SANDSTON, Va. –
The Virginia National Guard has more than 1,300 personnel staged and ready to support local and state emergency management officials with response to Hurricane Florence Sept. 12, 2018. VNG Soldiers, Airmen and members of the Virginia Defense Force are staged at key locations across the commonwealth in order to rapidly respond if needed.
“I am incredibly proud at how quickly and safely our personnel were able to get in place and be ready to provide support to Hurricane Florence if needed,” said Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia. “Our state agency partners count on us to be able to rapidly respond and provide the capabilities they need, and we have done that extremely well. We also owe a special thanks to our families and employers because we couldn’t accomplish our mission without their critical support.”
The VNG is closely monitoring the weather situation, so personnel, vehicles and equipment can be repositioned to different locations if needed.
Potential missions for the VNG include high water transportation, debris reduction, commodity distribution, shelter management assistance and rotary wing aviation search and rescue.
Governor Ralph Northam authorized up to 6,000 personnel for response operations and those individuals are alerted and on standby.
Additional Soldiers, Airmen and VDF members will be on duty in Richmond and Fort Pickett to provide mission command, logistics, administrative and public information support.