Corps power team helps FEMA prepare for Hurricane Irene

WALLA WALLA, Wash. –  Walla Walla District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, sent a 12-member emergency power team to Fayetteville, N.C., early this morning (Thursday, Aug. 25), to help FEMA respond to power losses anticipated to occur as Hurricane Irene moves toward U.S. states along the Atlantic Ocean.

Within 24 hours of receiving FEMA’s request to send a power team to provide emergency power technical assistance, Walla Walla District’s power team departed from airports in multiple locations throughout the District.  Emergency management officials anticipate the team will support FEMA operations there for about two weeks or longer if Hurricane Irene causes damage that requires their continued assistance. 

Walla Walla District’s emergency power team consists of an action officer, two mission managers, three mission specialists, a mission liaison, two logistics specialists, a contract specialist and two emergency power quality assurance specialists.  The all-volunteer team can provide backup electrical power generation anywhere an emergency makes the service needed.  Team members agree to be in an on-call status, ready to deploy on short-notice when disaster strikes.

Power team members will directly support FEMA emergency management staging areas and operations centers throughout North Carolina. 

The National Weather Service updated its severe weather warning about Irene at 11 a.m. EST today, cautioning “the hurricane is forecast to approach the coast of North Carolina on Saturday.”  The center of the storm was located about 645 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and traveling north-northwest at about 13 m.p.h.  Hurrican-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from its center. Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 290 miles from the center.  Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 115 m.p.h. with higher gusts.  Forecasters

For more information about Hurricane Irene’s movement toward the United States, visit the National Weather Service’s webpage http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl#contents.

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