The Southwestern Division responds to Hurricane Sandy

Published Nov. 7, 2012
These homes in Montoloking, NJ were left flooded and destroyed after Hurricane Sandy hit land Oct. 29. The Southwestern Division has deployed 36 employees Division-wide to assess the damage and help with the recovery and response efforts.

These homes in Montoloking, NJ were left flooded and destroyed after Hurricane Sandy hit land Oct. 29. The Southwestern Division has deployed 36 employees Division-wide to assess the damage and help with the recovery and response efforts.

A Corps employee inspects the breach at Mantoloking, NJ as a result of Hurricane Sandy. The island has been cut off since a breach flooded the area at the end of the bridge. The engineers went to Mantoloking  to assess the damage and develop a plan to close the breach and reopen the bridge

A Corps employee inspects the breach at Mantoloking, NJ as a result of Hurricane Sandy. The island has been cut off since a breach flooded the area at the end of the bridge. The engineers went to Mantoloking to assess the damage and develop a plan to close the breach and reopen the bridge

by LaDonna Davis

DALLAS-- Always ready to lend a helping hand when needed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Southwestern Division has deployed 36 volunteers from their Division Headquarters and four Districts to help with the recovery and response effort after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

As part of the federal government’s national response framework, the Corps of Engineers is the responsible agency for public works and engineering during times of national disaster and emergencies.

“This is the Corps' highest priority right now,” said SWD Commander, Brig. Gen. Thomas Kula. “USACE and SWD are leaning forward to support with our Emergency Support Function 3 team leaders, Tulsa Power Team, logistics planners and our military leadership who have deployed to help such as our Deputy Commander from the Division, Col. Richard Muraski and the Commander from our Tulsa District, Col. Michael Teague.”

Hurricane Sandy swept through the Northeast on Oct. 29, leaving a trail of destruction and devastation in its path. Millions of citizens throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut were left without power. Many people lost their homes and their personal belongings due to flooding and high winds.

Though the storm didn’t hit land until the 29th, SWD Readiness and Operations office was tracking the storm days before.

“We were tracking Sandy ever since it came out of the Caribbean and started having coordination calls with Headquarters USACE immediately,” said the SWD Chief of Readiness and Operations, Paul Krebs. “We started prepositioning people starting the 26th of October, and after the storm made landfall, we started pushing people in to the affected areas.”

The Corps of Engineers has deployed more than 650 people Corps-wide to work with FEMA in the recovery and response efforts. USACE currently has more than 38 FEMA Mission Assignments exceeding a total of $134 million.

USACE is supporting States’ and FEMA Regions I, II and III operations centers to organize response efforts. More than 25 team leaders or assistant team leaders have been alerted and/or deployed to provide public works and engineering expertise to include damage modeling, storm surge modeling, and coastal preparations.

Typically a volunteer will stay deployed for about 30 days, though it can last longer or they can be asked to return after returning home for a short break.

The mission areas of the 36 deployed SWD employees varies from providing temporary power and generators, to serving as liaisons between FEMA and the Corps of Engineers as part of the project management forward team, to providing information management.

SWD has deployed team members to Trenton, N.J., the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Queens, N.Y., New York City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pa.

“Our volunteers are actually all trained folks that get assigned to a standing team at the locations they are needed, doing the missions that they have been trained to do,” said Krebs. “Our mission is to help those people affected by the disaster.”

Right now the Corps is starting to move in to the response phase of the recovery and response mission, Krebs said.

“Recovery is generally life saving, mitigation of damage,” Krebs said. “Now we’re moving into the response and one of the big missions is debris removal. Our debris team in Fort Worth, for example, we’ve given them a heads up that they might deploy.” Krebs said that they haven’t been called on for the debris mission yet, but suspects it will happen soon.

In the meantime, Krebs said that SWD will be on the ready to do whatever they need to do to work with FEMA to complete the mission and help the people and areas affected by the storm.

“We’re getting reports back that the affects of the storm was very bad. The flooding of the coastal areas, the number of homes wiped out, roads closed and flooding has taken its toll on the cities,” Kreb said. “The good thing is the work that the Corps is doing has gotten a very positive response. From the temporary power mission and pumping out some of the flooded tunnels in New York and New Jersey and it looks like the power grid is starting to come up in many areas."

“When we see the images of those affected by the storm on TV and we hear first hand from our people deployed how bad some of the conditions are, it’s heartbreaking,” said Kula. “I know this recovery effort will not be speedy or easy, but the Corps of Engineers and SWD have boots on the ground helping until the job is done. That’s what we do and our guys won’t stop until the mission is complete.”

 

 

 


Release no. 12-014