ALAN releases post hurricane message to the logistics community

Editor's note: Below is a letter from Kathy Fulton, Executive Director of the American Logisitcs Aid Network (ALAN) to supply chain, freight transportation, and logistics professionals about Hurricane Ida. 

Dear Alan Friends:

By now I’m sure you’ve all had a chance to see the details from Hurricane Ida’s landfall on Sunday, the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, as a strong Category 4 storm.

Thus far, it has left more than a million people without power, created significant damage, blocked many transportation routes and put countless people in need of rescue.  And based on its current track and still-powerful strength, we’re not out of the woods yet.

Our team continues to track impacts as Ida moves to the northeast where it is forecast to bring heavy rains over the Tennessee and Ohio valleys, central and southern Appalachians, and the Mid-Atlantic through Wednesday.

But even in the midst of all of this bad news, there are still several things we can be thankful for. 

For one thing, the levees that failed during Hurricane Katrina held.   For another, countless first responders and relief organizations like ALAN are already hard at work delivering help and hope. 

Just as important, we here at ALAN know that we can count on all of you.

Over the past few days, we have been heartened to hear from many of you, who have asked us some variation of the question, “What can we do?”  

ALAN will have a few specific answers to that question soon, because we’re about to begin posting requests for donated logistics assistance on our Disaster Micro-site.   (We don’t have any open requests for Hurricane Ida logistics support at the moment, which is not unusual. We ordinarily begin to receive these requests after the initial wave of search-and-rescue efforts – and shortly after initial damage assessments have been made.)

And we’ll have even more specific answers in the coming weeks as search-and-rescue efforts cease and clean-up efforts intensify. 

Meanwhile, there are still many ways all of us can put our shoulders to the wheel and make a positive difference, which is why we’d like to share these four key pieces of practical post-storm advice with you.

On behalf of all of us at ALAN, thank you for being part of our caring community.  We’re so glad you’ve got our back, and we truly appreciate each and every one of you.

Sincerely,

Kathy Fulton

Executive Director

American Logistics Aid Network/ALAN