Courtesy Photo | Shua Xiong (bottom left), programs and project management, and Lee Sorm (bottom...... read more read more
Once again, St. Paul District personnel answered the call to serve.
To date, 80 district employees voluntarily deployed east to support response and recovery efforts for the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton. Another 44 have provided reach back support.
Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 26, 2024, as a Category 4 storm near Perry, Florida, causing damage in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and even Virginia. Two weeks later, Hurricane
Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Florida’s Siesta Key, Oct. 7, 2024, causing more damage across mainly Florida.
FEMA tasked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the Emergency Support Function 3 missions of emergency power, water system assessments, debris removal and temporary roofing. Additional subject matter experts in emergency management, GIS, logistics, public affairs, and more also deployed. USACE had personnel ready to support emergency response efforts for both storms.
Aside from the Sacramento District, St. Paul District has provided the largest number of volunteers for recovery efforts. Most St. Paul District personnel who deployed supported the debris removal mission in Georgia.
St. Paul District Deployment Manager Kris Fairbanks with the readiness operations center, or ROC, said, “I’m so proud of our St. Paul District volunteers and how quickly they responded to the needs of this year’s missions. These people represent our district well, and the timing of this response allowed our seasonal employees to work through the winter.”
She said she is also “thankful to the team of people that assist the ROC in taking care of our deployees. Bonnie Meyerhoff (operations), is invaluable to the ROC on any deployment, making herself available to assist with any and all travel and timekeeping issues. Resource management folks know their roles and answer the call, day or night. On any mission, home station timekeepers/ admins end up with added responsibilities, to include vouchers and FEMA timekeeping processes, and are unsung heroes. These folks make mine and the employees’ jobs easier!”
St. Paul District Park Ranger Colin Nicklay said he deployed to McIntosh County in Georgia as a quality assurance inspector for the debris mission. He said he was part of a team that mapped all the vegetation debris piles in the right of way around the county.
“Once all the debris piles were identified, the contractors could start with the debris clean up,” he said. “[After the mission was up and running], I spent most of time in a tower calling out percentages of loads of vegetation debris coming into the temporary dump site. I also followed contractors around who were cleaning up vegetation debris within the right of way.”
“I enjoyed working with Corps of Engineers employees that came from different districts and fields of work, hearing about the work they did back home, and then working as a team and using everyone’s strengths and special skill sets to accomplish the mission,” he added.
Shua Xiong, program analyst, also deployed as a quality assurance inspector for the debris mission. About her deployment, she said “I met a lot of great knowledgeable coworkers, and I hope to work with them again in the future.”
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| Date Taken: | 02.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.26.2025 11:05 |
| Story ID: | 491553 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, St. Paul District assists hurricane response efforts, by Shannon Bauer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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