5 hours ago
Amazon mobilizes relief efforts ahead of Hurricane Milton's landfall
Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta, Ga.Photo by Melissa GoldenAs Hurricane Milton barrels toward the Florida coast, Amazon is taking measures to safeguard its employees, mitigate customer disruptions, and provide large-scale aid to impacted communities.
"Our thoughts are with those who are impacted by Hurricane Milton,” said Alice Shobe, global director of Amazon Community Impact. “We are delivering essential products and using our technologies to help front line responders stay connected as Hurricane Milton’s impact unfolds.”
Prioritizing employee safety
Making sure our employees are safe is our top priority. With thousands of Amazon employees in Milton’s path, we have activated emergency protocols to ensure their well-being. We have a 24/7 operation dedicated to providing severe weather alerts and warnings, including guidance from our in-house chief meteorologist, tracking Milton’s movements and potential hazards.
Amazon has already closed facilities in the region. Employees have received direct communications about the closures. We will continue to closely monitor the situation as Milton’s impact becomes clearer to ensure employees are able to take the necessary precautions to remain safe.
Mobilizing response efforts
We have teams ready, and on the ground to quickly assist impacted communities through our global logistics infrastructure, inventory, and technology. Amazon has trailers standing by and already fulfilling requests at our Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta. Right now, we are in close contact with our nonprofit partners like the American Red Cross, Operation BBQ Relief, Save the Children, and others, and are preparing shipments of Amazon-donated items such as water, diapers, shelter kits, hygiene kits, and other critical supplies as soon as it’s safe to do so from the more than 3 million relief items that are pre-positioned at the Hub.
In addition to deploying relief items, Amazon is leveraging advanced technology and expertise to help community partners assess on-the-ground needs. Our team is positioned at the Florida Emergency Operations Center with emergency management agencies and government teams working to coordinate response efforts after the storm’s impact. Our Disaster Response team is standing by to restore connectivity and utilize drone mapping to assess devastation caused by Hurricane Milton, capturing high-resolution images of affected areas to aid responding organizations in rescue operations and relief efforts.
Our response builds on aid provided to communities across the southeastern U.S. recently impacted by Hurricane Helene. Amazon has delivered more than 23 truckloads of over 1.2 million essential items to relief partners since Helene made landfall, with majority of items delivered within 72 hours from the request from our Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta. Additionally, over a three day span, Amazon surveyed and mapped over 3,000 acres in remote and heavily impacted areas of Tennessee via drones to provide critical imagery for search and rescue missions. We’ll continue to dispatch Amazon-donated relief supplies to affected regions over the coming weeks.
Limiting customer disruption
With the temporary closing of some Amazon facilities, and likely damage to roads and other infrastructure, there may be impacts to customers in the region. We will utilize our national fulfillment network to complete customer orders from outside the affected region.
We will also adjust delivery estimates as the storm’s impact becomes clearer so customers can have the most accurate information on when their packages will arrive. Customers will see updated delivery times for their specific orders, and are encouraged to contact our 24/7 Customer Service teams for additional assistance.
Amazon, which operates 14 Disaster Relief Hubs globally, has donated over 24 million relief items to support more than 160 disasters worldwide. Learn more about our Global Disaster Relief and Response efforts.
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