• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

USACE employees ready New Orleans for hurricane season

By Katisha Draughn
June 2, 2006

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 2, 2006) – When Chris Gilmore returned to his hometown, the “Big Easy,” after Hurricane Katrina, he stepped into a flooded, devastated world.

Operations chief for Joint Task Force Guardian, Gilmore deployed to New Orleans, La., with the Corps of Engineers to help rebuild the disaster-struck city.

“It’s sad to see the place you grew up in and loved have this much damage,” Gilmore said. “It’s awful to see family and friends lose their homes and belongings.”

Hurricane Katrina approached New Orleans with 127-mph winds, making it only the third Category Five storm to hit U.S. land. It killed more than 1,800 people and flooded more than 75 percent of the city.

Immediately, the Federal Emergency Management Agency rushed USACE civilians and contractors from around the world to the area. More than 2,000 USACE employees have deployed to assist with the aftermath, and approximately 700 are still there.

“We have all come together and worked as a team,” Gilmore said.

By the official start of this year’s hurricane season on June 1, the USACE repaired damages to the New Orleans federal hurricane and flood protection system, specifically on the interim gated closure structures and pumps at three outfall canals.

The USACE has made other such improvements as unwatering the city, providing ice and water, removing debris, building temporary roofing, building terraced walls and restoring the 12- to 17-foot levee system.

“We are completing and restoring the undamaged levees to originally authorized heights,” said Lt. Col. Stan Heath, USACE deputy public affairs officer. “The entire system will be restored to authorized levels of protection by September 2007.”

Other improvements still underway include the storm proofing of existing pump stations, armoring the levees, building crossable floodgates to protect the industrial canal and restoring the ecosystem.

“We are working to have everyone prepared for the next hurricane,” said Gene Pawlik, USACE public affairs officer.

The USACE drafted a Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Report to address Category Five hurricane protections and the time and costs involved. Already, $2.1 billion has been used for repairing damages, and more is still needed for work on undamaged areas.

Growing up in New Orleans, Gilmore was always aware that a major hurricane could rip through the area. But he never anticipated it.

“It has brought new reality to life and how things can change in such a short amount of time,” Gilmore said.

Despite the difficult changes spurred by Katrina in New Orleans, it has inspired USACE employees to make the city once again feel like the “Big Easy.”

“These people are phenomenal and it has been a pleasure to work with them,” he said. “This has definitely been one of the highlights of my career.”