Photo By Mark Rankin | Operation Blue Roof Recipient Mark Arena, an Army Vietnam Veteran, received the last...... read more read more
POINCIANA, Fla. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and its contractors commemorated the last day of Operation Blue Roof Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, installing the final blue roof in central Florida as part of recovery efforts following Hurricane Milton.
This marks the end of the Operation Blue Roof program that provided temporary roofing protection to Florida homes damaged by Milton. The program covered more than 8,296 roofs and collected 11,502 Rights of Entries (ROES) from multiple counties throughout Florida.
"It’s amazing to see the work of our U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) teammates, from our Jacksonville District, South Atlantic Division and across the country, who came together with our partners to help get Florida back on its feet,” said Lt. Gen. William “Butch” H. Graham, Jr., 56th Chief of Engineers and USACE commanding general.
Graham visited devastated areas in Florida in October and lauded the team for their work to help restore normalcy in Florida communities.
Hurricane Milton made landfall Oct. 9, in Siesta Key, about 70 miles south of Tampa, as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 120 mph. The storm caused a record number of 150 tornadoes across Florida and brought deadly storm surge, ferocious winds and rain. It weakened to a Category 1 storm early as it moved inland across the state and exited near Cape Canaveral.
By Oct. 10, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) began coordination with USACE mission assignments. When the President declared a Major Disaster Declaration for Florida with no cost share for 90 days, the USACE Temporary Roofing team began preparing for a potential mission; by Oct. 14, the Jacksonville District received the mission assignment, initially for 25 counties.
The contractor installed the final roof on Poinciana resident Mark Arena’s home, a retired U.S. Army Vietnam veteran.
Arena said his home was damaged by the strong winds during Hurricane Milton. After the storm passed, he saw shingles on the ground, and called his insurance company.
He heard about the Blue Roof Program on television from a local news station, followed up online and registered. Within days someone from USACE emailed and called him.
“I feel special being an Army veteran and it was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that helped me get my roof repaired,” said Arena.
The purpose of Operation Blue Roof is to provide homeowners in disaster areas with fiber-reinforced sheeting to cover their damaged roofs until arrangements can be made for permanent repairs.
According to Nicole Cominoli, Mission Manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, after a hurricane, people do not realize the extent of roof damage until weeks after a storm it rains.
“By installing temporary roofs, we restore a sense of normalcy for people during a chaotic and stressful time. Our primary goal is to get people back into their homes as quickly as we can, while also delivering a quality product,” said Cominoli.
This is a free service to homeowners. Operation Blue Roof protects property, reduces temporary housing costs, and allows residents to remain in their homes while recovering from the storm. “We’re proud to say that this Blue Roof response is our fastest deployment of the program yet, with teams mobilized and on the ground within hours to begin providing critical roofing assistance,” said Cominoli. Since the first installation October16, we’ve averaged about 300 installs a day and continued to gain momentum."
USACE brings unique capabilities to emergency responses. It is just one piece of a much larger Army and Department of Defense team working to support our federal, state, and local partners.
Operation Blue Roof is a priority mission assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"USACE reduces the time to begin installing blue roofs in several ways, including having trained temporary housing teams ready to deploy from their home districts and using pre-coordinated contracting vehicles," said Matthew Mansfield, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hurricane Milton Operation Blue Roof Misson Resident Engineer.
25 eligible counties for Operation Blue Roof:
Brevard, Citrus, Charlotte, DeSoto, Flagler, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Manatee, Martin, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Lucie, Sumter, and Volusia Counties were eligible for the program."
A total of 8,296 blue roofs were installed in response to Hurricane Milton. USACE validated 11,502 Rights of Entry (ROEs) collected from residents and, of those, assessed 9,017. The first blue roofs were installed October 16 in Sarasota County.
The ROE is a legal document that allows USACE to assess roofs and gives permission for the USACE contractor to install temporary roofs.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is prepared and ready to respond to natural and human-made disasters and overseas contingencies. When disasters occur, USACE teams and other resources are mobilized from across the country to assist our local districts and offices to deliver our response missions.
USACE has more than 50 specially trained response teams supported by emergency contracts to perform a wide range of public works and engineering-related support missions.
In any disaster, USACE’s three top priorities are:
Support immediate lifesaving and life-safety emergency response priorities.
Sustain lives with critical temporary emergency power and other needs.
Initiate recovery efforts by assessing and restoring critical infrastructure.
(The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District on the district’s website at https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JacksonvilleDistrict and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/JaxStrong.’
Images of the first blue roof installation on October 19 are available at:
https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4836255/operation-blue-roof
For Blue Roof information, visit the USACE Operation Blue Roof Hurricane website at
https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Emergency-Operations/Blue-Roof-Info/
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2024 19:14 |
| Story ID: | 485793 |
| Location: | POINCIANA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 108 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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