(Photo from Iowa HSEMD, Iowans prepare to board the USTS Empire State VI, heading to Puerto Rico)
(Des Moines, Iowa) Three more state employees are being deployed to assist with hurricane response and recovery efforts.
The Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is sending the employees to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The agency's resources have been stretched thin following a record-setting hurricane season and wildfires burning in more than a dozen states.
Senior operations administrator Joyce Flinn will be deployed for a second two-week tour at FEMA's National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) in Washington, D.C.
She will serve as liaison for the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) between the federal government and the states.
Senior disaster recovery staff members Pat Hall and Dennis Harper deployed to Puerto Rico on Friday, October 6, 2017.
Their deployment is expected to last 30 days. Hall and Harper have led recovery efforts in Iowa during more than 30 presidential major disaster declarations.