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During the disaster response to Hurricanes Gustav
and Ike in September, some Army Corps of Engineers’
employees worked at the Governor's Office of
Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness or
GOHSEP.
GOHSEP is the Louisiana agency that managed more than 25 Federal Disaster Declarations. Their mission has evolved to include the spectrum of natural and man-made disasters. As of 2003 the duties and responsibilities expanded to include supporting Louisiana's Homeland Security needs.
A number of supporting agencies staffed the GOHSEP 24 hours a day. The Corps of Engineers’ employees working there acted as liaisons between the state, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and many other government agencies and officials including the Governor's Office, the state legislature, Congressional delegations, state officials, parish and city officials, parish emergency directors, the National Guard, partner state agencies, and individual citizens.
The idea behind having the numerous supporting agencies and offices housed under one roof, said Jason Allmon of the Memphis District, was to help provide a multi-tiered operational environment to improve efficiency and reliability during disaster operations; when time sensitive information is so vital to mission accomplishment.
Jason Allmon photo
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Jason Allmon took this photo of President Bush and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal when they visited the GOHSEP where he was working. Allmon said all agencies involved in the Hurricanes Gustav and Ike response had benefited from the lessons learned following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. |
While working at the GOHSEP the Corps employees provided up-to-date information regarding the Corps’ Blue Roof, debris removal, and the power team missions. They also answered questions about the New Orleans levee system.
“The experience was exhausting, yet rewarding and exciting,” said Allmon, the daytime liaison for the power mission. “You never knew who would be walking through the door. Quite literally, I ran into the Governor of Louisiana while leaving one evening. I also had the pleasure of meeting President Bush.”
April Branch, from the Memphis District, was the night-shift power team liaison from Sep. 3-17, and Branch and Allmon were responsible for answering any generator questions.
Subject matter experts Durund Elzey, Mike Lowe, and Crorey Lawton, all from the New Orleans District, answered all the other questions for the Corps regarding Blue Roof, debris removal and levee concerns.
“It was a pleasure working with Durund, Mike and Crorey. They were incredibly knowledgeable about all of the Corps mission areas,” said Allmon.
“I agree,” said Branch, “We may have had slightly different scopes of work, but we all recognized that we were a team from the moment we shook hands.”
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