Ready to Respond
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking action in anticipation of Hurricane Irene's landfall to monitor storm activity, minimize flood damage and pre-position its trained responders. The Corps of Engineers is part of the federal government's unified national response to disasters and emergencies. The Corps assists the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by coordinating and organizing public works and engineering-related support. We have more than 40 specially trained response teams ready to perform a wide range of missions, as assigned by FEMA. In any disaster, our three top priorities are:
• Support immediate emergency response priorities;
• Sustain lives with critical commodities, temporary emergency power and other needs; and,
• Initiate recovery efforts by assessing and restoring critical infrastructure
Preparations for Hurricane Irene
The Corps has already deployed members of the its 249th Engineering Battalion (Prime Power) to assess power needs in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Irene making landfall there earlier this week. We have also begun prepositioning team leaders who would support debris removal, emergency roofing, housing, commodities to include water and ice, infrastructure assessment and emergency power up and down the eastern seaboard in anticipation of Hurricane Irene making landfall this weekend. In response to FEMA requests, our power planning and response team, along with the 249th Soldiers, have begun to pre-position generators at designated staging locations, and our Emergency Command and Control Vehicles (ECCVs) are moving into position as well.
People Ensure Mission Success
When disasters occur, it is not just a local Corps district or office that responds. Personnel and other resources are mobilized across the Corps' 45 districts and nine divisions throughout the country to carry out our response missions. Thus far in 2011, more than 1,000 Corps employees have responded to one or more major disasters as a result of floods and severe storms. All of the planning, equipment and programs are vital, but it is the competent, disciplined and resilient people who successfully accomplish the Corps' disaster response missions.
Corps Missions
Our missions under the National Response Framework include: Emergency temporary power; package ice and bottled water; debris management; emergency infrastructure assessments; urban search and rescue; critical public facility restoration; temporary roofing; and housing. Under the Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act, often called Public Law 84-99, we have the authority to provide a range of assistance -- technical assistance, supplies and equipment, emergency contracting, strengthening flood control works, creating temporary levees, channel clearance, dam failure relief, levee rehabilitation and participation in an intergovernmental levee task force.
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