The National Hurricane Center expects Hurricane Ian to gain strength and become a potentially damaging hurricane that could make landfall in Florida in the coming days.

Amazon teams across the U.S. are ready to support communities impacted by the storm, and the company is prepared to use its infrastructure, technology, and inventory to support those in need.

The company has activated its prepositioning efforts including its Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta and will charter an Amazon Air 767 plane to ship thousands of aid items to the island.

Below are some of the actions we’ve taken to be ready to provide aid as soon as it’s needed:

  • Activated Amazon’s Disaster Relief Hub, a special warehouse in Atlanta where the company prepositions over 1 million relief items that we know are the most needed when a disaster strikes.
  • Loaded 10 trucks with over 360,000 bottles of water and strategically prepositioned the vehicles in several locations across Florida and other southern U.S. states so we can quickly deliver clean water to impacted communities.
  • Reserved a parking lot at one of our facilities in Jacksonville, Florida, to allow the Red Cross to park up to 75 trailers that will help transport relief items as soon as they are needed.
Semi trucks lined up in a row filled with disaster relief items.
Nearly 75 Red Cross trucks are parked at Amazon's facility in Jacksonville, Florida ready to transport relief items to communities in need as soon as the storm makes landfall.

“We know that when natural disasters strike, communities quickly need help—and we are mobilizing our teams and using our technology and infrastructure to be able to assist those in need as soon as possible,” said Abe Diaz, head of Amazon Disaster Relief. “Hurricane Ian is likely to be a powerful hurricane by the time it makes landfall, and we are using our logistics expertise and artificial intelligence technology to preposition the most needed products at the most effective locations.”

An amazon employee packs boxes of relief items to ship to Florida
An amazon employee packs boxes of relief items to ship to Florida

We are also supporting our employees in the area, as their safety is our number one priority. Our teams near the path of the storm are implementing safety plans, and local teams will work directly with employees to offer support during this event.

Amazon will continue to monitor this storm and rally its teams to assist communities in coordination with relief organizations and local authorities. Since its creation in 2017, Amazon Disaster Relief has donated more than 20 million items in response to 95 disasters and humanitarian crises.

Learn more about Amazon Disaster Relief.