International Medical Corps is mobilizing resources and deploying an assessment team to the Carolinas, as Hurricane Florence has grown into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm. The hurricane is barreling toward the Carolina coast, where it threatens to be the most intense storm to strike the region in at least 25 years.
Life-threatening inland flooding could threaten a population of more than 5.4 million, and estimates of economic impact and damage from Florence run as high as $30 billion. The storm is likely to paralyze a large region of the United States, and the millions in Florence’s path could be without electricity for weeks—straining healthcare and other critically needed services.
Though the majority of International Medical Corps’ relief efforts take place overseas, the organization does respond to disasters in the United States—such as in Puerto Rico and Florida in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. With domestic resources stretched as hurricane seasons have intensified in recent years, International Medical Corps stands ready to launch a full response effort in the wake of Hurricane Florence.
Our assessment team will be in place before the storm makes landfall, enabling us to rapidly identify needs and call forward the staff, supplies and equipment required to support locally led response efforts. International Medical Corps is already reaching out to its vast network of disaster responders, including doctors and nurses, to deploy teams that will staff and run temporary mobile clinics, should they be requested by local officials. In addition, our modular mobile field hospital and other critical supplies are pre-positioned in Memphis, ready to be quickly mobilized to help support response efforts.
Our experts will continue to monitor the storm as it makes landfall, and we stand ready to assist those in need.