Responding to the needs of Veterans affected by Hurricane Harvey

As Hurricane Harvey moves through the Gulf Coast, VA remains ready to deploy its resources to assist Veterans as soon as they are able. The VA Integrated Operations Center was activated to coordinate efforts from VA’s central office in Washington. Local and regional assets in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana are also mobilized to respond and assist those VA facilities most impacted by the storm.

In Houston, the Michael E. DeBakey VAMC in Houston, Texas, is currently open and operational. We’ve already begun to see VA offices in the region respond with assistance, including Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System who is taking calls from Veterans throughout southeastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma who need to reschedule appointments. A Mobile Vet Center will be providing counseling services to Veterans in Corpus Christi, and 8 additional Mobile Vet Centers currently within a 12-hour drive to the Texas coast are on standby for deployment to the region.

The D.C.-based operations center is working to meet the food supply and resource demands for the Houston medical center, making sure there are enough personnel in the event a federal coordinating center is activated. They are also in constant communication with federal counterparts including Federal Emergency Management Agency, Health and Human Services and the Department of Transportation.

Within the areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey and the resulting tropical storms are:

510,015 Veterans 175, 127 VA enrollees 5,576 VA staff 115 VHA clinics 19 VBA offices 19 cemeteries