Massachusetts Assists With Hurricane Florence Response
BURLINGTON (CBS) - Screens light up a command center inside the Burlington headquarters of Everbridge. The company's crisis management platform monitors disasters around the globe in real time. Right now, employees are on hurricane watch.
Everbridge has more than 500 clients, corporations and local governments, in the path of Hurricane Florence. Its platform helps those clients keep people safe through text, email, and call alerts.
"They're reaching out to their residents or employees, trying to account for everyone .They're trying to provide advice on when there may be evacuations underway," said Everbridge VP of Global Services and Support, Riz Karim.
And, when it comes to combating hurricanes, Everbridge has experience.
"The hurricanes that we had in Florida, a couple of years ago with Matthew we evacuated over five million people using the Everbridge platform," Karim said.
Massachusetts is also sending a FEMA team on the ground to help with Florence response.
Forty six people, 10 trucks, and 4 boats will depart Tuesday night for the Virginia area where they will be deployed.
"With a hurricane type 4, there's heavy winds, about 155 mph, could do a lot of damage to structures. So, we're ready for building collapse and we're ready for any kind of water rescue," said FEMA rescue team manager David Levasseur.
The team is expecting to stay there for two weeks.