emergency response

The vision for what would become the NOAA Disaster Response Center was forged following the catastrophic 2005 hurricane season, when back-to-back hurricanes—Hurricanes Katrina and Rita—devastated the Gulf Coast. Established in Mobile, Alabama, to fill critical gaps in centralizing regional disaster resources, the Center now marks ten years of expanded nationwide impact. Explore how its state-of-the-art Incident Command Center, specialized hands-on training courses, and interagency Continuity of Operations exercises continue to strengthen resilience along the Gulf Coast and beyond.

Natural and human-induced disasters disrupt coastal communities and impact livelihoods. The Coastal Response Research Center, a partnership established in 2004 between NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) and the University of New Hampshire, helps NOAA respond effectively. For more than two decades, this partnership has worked to reduce the consequences of spills and other hazards that threaten coastal environments and communities by conducting research, developing new response and restoration methods, and implementing innovative solutions. A new grant extends this partnership through 2031. In fiscal year 2027, the Coastal Response Research Center and OR&R will collaborate on multiple projects to address spill response, preparedness, tools, data access, and Arctic challenges.

For over 40 years, NOAA’s Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps have guided emergency responders in protecting vulnerable shorelines. Discover how these critical maps evolved from heavy paper atlases into real-time, interactive digital geodatabases, pinpointing sensitive ecosystems before crisis hits to ensure rapid, targeted action.

Effective pollution response starts with strong fundamentals. NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) is excited to participate in a new training opportunity for oil spill planners and responders. The Gulf Response Alliance (GRA) — a coalition of government agencies, emergency responders, industry leaders, environmental groups, and wildlife experts — will host its inaugural three-day event, GRA 2026, from September 28–30, 2026 in Austin, Texas.

When oil spills, chemical dispersants can be used to break slicks into smaller droplets for "oil-eating" microbes to digest. OR&R recently joined experts at New Jersey's Ohmsett facility to test this alternative response technique under real ocean conditions.

From a train derailment in Oregon to extreme Pacific storms, the first quarter of 2026 has kept NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration busy around the clock. In our latest blog, we look back at the 40 new incidents, including 34 oil spills and 3 hazardous material releases, that OR&R supported in the first quarter of the year. From predicting crude oil paths in the Gulf to advanced chemical hazard modeling.

In November and December 2025, OR&R provided support for 14 new incidents in nine states, ranging from separate sinkings of a tugboat and a fishing vessel in Washington state; sheens from three separate pipeline leaks in Alabama and Louisiana; a dielectric fluid discharge in New York state; a vessel grounding in Alaska; two separate vessels adrift or aground in California; a hydrogen sulfide release at a refinery in Mississippi; and 15 vessels sunk at their docks due to heavy snowfall and ice in several southeast Alaska harbors.

In October 2025, OR&R provided support for seven new incidents in five states, ranging from an uncontrolled release of natural gas from a well head in Louisiana; a derelict commercial fishing vessel run aground in Washington State; a shrimp boat that sank after alliding with the Sunshine Skyway in St. Petersburg, Florida; and the flooding of coastal communities of Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska caused by Typhoon Haalong.

In 2025, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) continued its critical mission of protecting the nation's coasts from pollution. From January to December 2025, OR&R supported 167 incidents, providing scientific support for oil spills, chemical releases, and unique environmental marine emergencies. Of the new incidents OR&R supported in 2025, 132 were oil spills and 13 involved chemical releases. Additionally, OR&R supported 22 other environmental incidents, including responses to grounded vessels, abandoned and derelict vessels, and large-scale marine debris incidents.

In June, OR&R provided response support for 23 new incidents in 14 states, plus one outside the U.S. exclusive economic zone in the North Pacific. Eighteen of the new incidents were actual or potential oil spills; one was a chemical spill—a barge leaking acetone into its void space; and four were categorized as “other” incidents—a possibly-biological sheen detected by Coast Guard aircraft east of San Clemente Island, California; the loss of a shipping container full of empty industrial-sized fish food bags in Alaska; and two deceased whales, one in New Jersey and one offshore New York.