Subscribe
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District (SWG) rehearsed hurricane response timelines and actions to protect people and infrastructure with a tabletop exercise at the Jadwin Building in Galveston, Texas, June 10, 2024. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1, and ends Nov. 30.
The Galveston District routinely conducts hurricane preparedness exercises in efforts to continuously execute their mission should the need arise. The district has been instrumental in hurricane and storm management and recovery efforts for more than 100 years since the initial construction of the Galveston Seawall was completed in 1904.
SWG Commander, Col. Rhett A. Blackmon, led key staff and leaders through a scripted hurricane scenario to focus on the roles and responsibilities of the command and staff, decision-making actions, and response authorities, if a major hurricane impacted Galveston. The scenario began one week before predicted landfall and continued to 48 hours past landfall.
According to experts, in an average hurricane season, there are 14 named storms.
This year, forecasters are calling for 17 to 25 named storms. An average season would be three major hurricanes, and this year meteorologists are predicting four to seven major hurricanes.
But it only takes one, and storms can develop rapidly. Of all Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall on the continental U.S. --- the 1935 Labor Day storm, Camille (1969), Andrew (1992), and Michael (2018) --- all four were not hurricanes 3 days before landfall.
This is also why it’s important for every person to prepare for hurricane season with help from resources like ready.gov/hurricanes.
The exercise also covered what assets SWG can leverage during a hurricane response, and resource deployment strategies.
Team leaders laid out actions to be completed each day of the seven days leading up to hurricane landfall in or near Galveston and two days after.
This exercise is a recurring event SWG commanders hold to ensure their team members are ready for hurricanes, personally and professionally.
Every member of the team was reminded to update their own household preparation and potential evacuation plan in the event of imminent hurricane landfall. These plans can also be effective for a large non-hurricane rain event which could cause flooding in low lying areas of Coastal Texas.
Having a hurricane evacuation checklist in place, with necessary supplies to get through expected service interruptions, can assist district employees in returning to work quickly to join recovery efforts.
After a disaster and a state request for federal assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tasks USACE to execute recovery missions through Mission Assignments. USACE also performs, as requested, engineering missions that fit the enterprise’s core capabilities but do not fall under pre-scripted mission assignments.
USACE is the lead agency for Emergency Support Function (ESF) #3, Public Works & Engineering; USACE is FEMA’s Engineer. USACE’s pre-scripted standard mission sets include Debris Removal and Clearance, Temporary Emergency Power, Temporary Housing and Critical Public Facilities (CPF), Temporary Roofing “Blue Roof”, Infrastructure Assessment, Urban Search and Rescue Structural Specialists. The Corps also lends trained personnel to support other ESFs, such as ESF #9, Urban Search and Rescue, when FEMA activates them.
https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Emergency-Operations/emergency_support/
Temporary Roofing Mission Video: https://youtu.be/TJLbOh-eYag?feature=shared
To learn more about hurricane preparedness, visit https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes#before.
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.06.2025 13:10 |
| Story ID: | 488528 |
| Location: | GALVESTON, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 11 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Get Ready for Hurricanes Season, Galveston District Holds Hurricane Prep Exercise, by Luke Waack, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
