Naval Station Mayport, Florida, opened an Emergency Family Assistance Center (EFAC) Sept. 13. Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville and Naval Submarine Base (NSB) Kings Bay will open their EFACs on September 14. The EFACs will be manned with Navy counselors prepared to assist families returning to the installations.

For personnel and families at NAS Key West, it is still too soon to establish an EFAC. Personnel and families should continue to monitor their installation's Facebook page for updates.

Equally important, the evacuation order that was set to expire on Sept. 16 was extended by Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar, commander, Navy Region Southeast, to Sept. 30.

When personnel and families evacuated, they were officially on orders even though they did not have a printed copy in hand. As personnel return, here is what they need to do.

For Sailors returning, go into the Defense Travel System, http://www.defensetravel.osd.mil/dts/site/index.jsp, to do the normal travel claim for temporary duty orders. These orders will cover the period you evacuated with your family. The command to which you are assigned has to approve the travel claim.

For civilian employees and families members of Sailors and civilian employees who are part of Navy Installations Command, an installation office will be set up specifically to print your orders and assist you with processing your travel claim. Contact your supervisor or chain of command for directions to that claims processing office.

For all other commands, personnel and family members will need to check with their command to determine office location for printing and processing evacuation travel orders.

Based on lessons learned from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, evacuation orders will be handled by your installation office and sent to the Navy Installations Command Financial Service Center (FSC) to effectively review, approve and track evacuation claims. The FSC will send completed claims to the assigned Personnel Support Detachment for processing and payment.

Personnel and families should check their installation or command Facebook pages for updates on the status of the impacted bases.

Additional updates can be found by visiting Navy Region Southeast's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NavyRegionSE.