North Carolina Global TransPark director Allen Thomas meets Sept. 21, 2018, with emergency management officials based at the Global TransPark.
KINSTON – The North Carolina Global TransPark served as headquarters for emergency rescue and response operations in eastern North Carolina in the days leading up to and following Hurricane Florence.
Hundreds of emergency response personnel and crews from across North Carolina and the U.S. used the industrial park, strategically located near interstate and connector highways, as a staging area so they could quickly help areas affected by the storm.
Florence, a slow-moving Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall in North Carolina on Sept. 14, lingered for days, dropping an estimated 8 trillion gallons of rain across the state. The rain led to massive flooding while toppled trees from strong winds caused widespread power outages.
Teams from North Carolina Emergency Management, Federal Emergency Management Agency as well as the U.S. Armed Forces responded to emergency requests for help and were deployed to help clear roads, rescue people by water, land and air and support other response efforts.
In addition to housing emergency response crews, the Global TransPark was used to store thousands of emergency supplies, including rescue boats and aircraft, ready-to-eat meals as well as medical supplies.
The Global TransPark also served as an incident command post for emergency response operations during the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in 2016.