The 2026 hurricane season begins

Picture a Veteran you know. They’ve ridden out storms before, but maybe they’re a retiree living alone in a Gulf Coast apartment, or a disabled Veteran in the Carolinas depending on powered medical equipment. Trained for hard situations and accustomed to pushing through, they believe they are ready.

Then a Category 2 storm knocks out the power for nine days. By day four, a critical medication runs out. The pharmacy is closed. Roads are flooded. The phone battery is dead.

It happens every season… not to a headline, but to real people in real homes across the Gulf Coast, the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic. The gap between feeling prepared and being prepared is where emergencies become crises.

“It only takes one,” said Assistant Secretary Reginald Neal, leading VA’s Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP). “One storm. One week without power. One heat wave. That’s all it takes.”

VA has a “Fourth Mission,” authorizing support, not just for enrolled Veterans, but entire communities when local medical systems buckle under a storm’s weight. OSP and the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Emergency Management work year-round to track threats, protect VA facilities and pre-position staff and supplies where they’re most needed.

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Source: VA News
Website: news.va.gov