UPDATE: District staff supports FEMA’s hurricane response efforts

WALLA WALLA, Wash. –  Fifteen U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees from duty locations throughout the Walla Walla District are helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency respond to Hurricane Sandy’s impacts in multiple northeastern states.

Marcus Smith, chief of operations at Walla Walla District’s Little Goose Lock and Dam deployed Sunday, Oct. 28, to support FEMA Region III in their Philadelphia, Pa., emergency operations center.  Smith, a resident of Kendrick, Idaho, serves in the EOC as an emergency power expert.

Walla Walla District also sent 14 emergency power team members on Sunday to assist FEMA emergency operations centers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Power team members currently deployed to support FEMA’s Hurricane Sandy operations include:

AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: The Walla Walla District maintains two of the Corps’ seven power teams, ready to deploy as part of the Corps’ Emergency Support Function (ESF) #3, public works and engineering-related support. The all-volunteer teams 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 directly support FEMA emergency management staging areas and operations centers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is prepared and ready to respond to natural and man-made disasters. When disasters occur, it is not just a local Corps district or office that responds. Personnel and other resources are mobilized across the country to carry out response missions. The command is part of the federal government’s unified national response to disasters and emergencies and is the designated lead for ESF #3, public works and engineering-related support. The Corps conducts its emergency response activities under two basic authorities – the Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act, and when mission assigned by FEMA, under the Stafford Disaster and Emergency Assistance Act.

In any disaster, the Corps’ top priorities are 1) support immediate emergency response priorities; 2) sustain lives with critical commodities, temporary emergency power and other needs; and 3) initiate recovery efforts by assessing and restoring critical infrastructure.

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror. Check out http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/EmergencyOperations.aspx for more information about the Corps of Engineers’ emergency management mission and roles in supporting national disasters.

For information about the Corps’ support to FEMA in response to Hurricane Sandy, go online to http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/EmergencyOperations/HurricaneSeason/Sandy.aspx.

For more information about hurricane and severe storm activity, go online to the National Hurricane Center’s website at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov.

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