Today, the President called Governor John Hickenlooper to receive an update on the situation in Colorado and express his concern for the citizens impacted by the historic flooding, including those individuals still missing. The President expressed his condolences to the families and friends who lost a loved one and commended the first responders working tirelessly to save lives and protect the Colorado communities.
The President reinforced his commitment to providing the necessary federal support to the state and local efforts. The President last night declared a major disaster in Colorado and authorized Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the affected area, including the availability of Federal funds for affected individuals in Boulder County.
At the President’s direction, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate will travel to Colorado tomorrow to ensure the federal government is closely coordinating with the state and local response.
We will continue to work with our federal partners, including FEMA, to support the state and local response. FEMA has deployed personnel, including two Incident Management Assistance Teams and additional staff at the Colorado emergency operations center. Three federal urban search and rescue teams, Colorado Task Force 1 (deployed as a state resource), Utah Task Force 1 and Nebraska Task Force 1, are on the ground to support search and rescue operations in flooded and isolated areas. Two additional federal urban search and rescue teams, Nevada Task Force 1 and Missouri Task Force 1, are expected to arrive in Colorado this afternoon; and three more federal urban search and rescue teams have been placed on alert. FEMA proactively staged commodities closer to the hardest hit areas and areas potentially affected by the flooding. More than 65,000 liters of water, 22,000 meals and other supplies are on site and available to the state as needed and requested. A FEMA Incident Response Vehicle is in Colorado providing communications support to the emergency operations center for the town of Lyons.
We urge residents to continue to monitor weather conditions, listen carefully to instructions from their local officials, and take recommended protective measures to safeguard life and property while response efforts continue.