Hurricane Dorian: Puerto Rico Exchanges Back to Normal, But All Eyes Now on Florida

A map captures Dorian’s estimated track.

Exchange managers and associates in Puerto Rico are breathing sighs of relief after Hurricane Dorian spared the island, but now all eyes are focused on the Southeastern United States, where the storm could hit over Labor Day weekend.

Exchanges at Fort Buchanan and Camp Santiago in Puerto Rico were open Thursday morning and everything was back to normal.

Now, Exchange managers and associates at Florida’s Patrick AFB, MacDill AFB, Homestead ANGB, the U.S. Southern Command headquarters, Cape Canaveral AFS and Shades of Green Express store at Walt Disney World Resort are preparing for Dorian’s arrival.

Dorian is predicted to hit Florida this weekend as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, bringing intense rains and sustained winds of 130 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

At Florida’s Homestead Air Reserve Base, associates Barbara Villa Rivera, Elzondro McDowell and Christian Alvarez gather with the driver who delivered a tanker of fuel to the Exchange Thursday.

“Dorian is targeting the Port Canaveral area at this time, which is basically just right outside the gate of Patrick,” General Manager James Clark said. “So, it looks this area will take the brunt of the storm unless something changes in the next few days.

“We are seeing lines at the gas station on Patrick, with customers filling up their vehicles and gas containers. Trucks are scheduled to deliver more gas two times today.”

Clark said a shipment of emergency supplies, such as bottled water, flashlights, batteries and generators, will arrive Friday from the Dan Daniel Distribution Center in Virginia.

At MacDill AFB, more customers are buying hurricane supplies and lines at the Express gas stations are building. More fuel was expected to be delivered Thursday, Clark said.

“We still have bottled water at MacDill, and are getting water locally to maintain stock between shipments,” Clark said. “Four pallets of bottled water are coming from Patrick.”

Although the overall fuel supply is “plentiful,” Exchange managers said, contracted carriers are strained, forcing the Exchange to turn to secondary options to deliver more gas beyond what is already scheduled.

At the Waco DC in Texas, a mobile field exchange like the one sent last year to hurricane-ravaged Tyndall AFB, Fla., is prepped and ready to go, if needed. Associates are working on preparing two more MFEs in case they’re needed.

Other Exchanges throughout the Southeast are building up their water supplies and getting orders filed with disaster preparedness managers at the Dallas headquarters. See what they’re requesting here.

View the latest information from the National Hurricane Center here.