National Water Team delivers water relief to hurricane victims  

NASAs Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite assesses Hurricane Ikes rainfall. (Courtesy Photo)

In this NASA satellite photo, Hurricane Ike barrels toward Texas as a Category 2 storm. (Courtesy Photo)

Dec. 22, 2008

By Ann Marie R. Harvie
New England District

When Hurricane Ike slammed into the U.S., Sept. 13, it left a trail of devastation in Texas that flattened hundreds of homes, flooded barrier islands, knocked out power and eliminated other human necessities, including clean drinking water.

While the Corps of Engineers is heavily involved with the Federal Response Team in all recovery efforts, its National Water Team, based out of New England District's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Concord, Mass., brings relief to individual hurricane victims by the truckload - delivering bottled water to The Federal Emergency Management Agency emergency points of distribution (PODs) every day.  Three days after the storm made landfall, more than 5 million bottles of water from as far away as Florida were delivered to hurricane victims.

The massive effort to move hundreds of trucks filled with the life-saving water on a daily basis was carefully coordinated by the Water Team, FEMA, and the Corps' water contractor, IAP, Inc., of Irmo, S.C.

Even before Ike entered the Gulf of Mexico, New England Districts EOC and the National Water Team prepared to provide any assistance requested by FEMA on behalf of hurricane victims.  The National Water Team's Action Officer, Mike Keegan, traveled to the National Response and Coordination Center in Washington, D.C. Sept. 2 in response to Hurricane Gustav, which had impacted the coast of Louisiana, about a week prior to Ike.  His role is to serve as liaison between the Corps and FEMA headquarters officials.      

"Mike has been working diligently to relay requests and orders for water to the team members working out of the EOC," said Dave Schafer, chief of the district's EOC.

A 16-member water team of New England District and Kansas City District volunteers performed quality assurance on the ground. 

"When the trucks would come into the site, the team members received the product, filled out paperwork for tracking purposes so the contractor could be paid properly and tracks the water as it left the warehouse area to go to the FEMA POD's," Schafer said.  "They open up the trucks, inspect them to make sure nothing was damaged during delivery and ensure packaging according to FEMA specifications."

Mission Managers Heather Sullivan and Dave Goodrich maintained constant contact with Keegan in Washington as well as the Water Teams on the ground at the disaster locations.  They relayed updated requests, water orders and locations to contracting officers Sheila Winston-Vincuilla and Rachael Raposa.

"When Mike received word from FEMA on their needs, I called the contractor and gave a verbal notification, and we worked with Mike to get the funding and place the order," Raposa Said.  "We came up with a delivery schedule that the contractor could meet and coordinated the product delivery."

Plans often change in a disaster recovery mission, and often the location of the water delivery must be altered to meet the needs of the victims receiving it.  When that happens, the Water Team in Concord coordinates with the contractor to contact each driver by cell phone to give them the new location.  Sullivan and Goodrich also track how many trucks of water have been delivered against what has been ordered for that day and relay that information to Keegan to ensure that FEMA is getting all it needs to help the victims. 

Schafer and Rachel Fisher of the district EOC ensured that the team was staffed with adequate support in the field and in the Concord Office and performed logistical duties for the team such as travel orders and funding.

The National Water Team and the EOC worked 12- to 16-hour days, seven days a week to make sure that hurricane victims had enough to drink. 

"Obviously we'll stay in place as long as we're needed," Schafer said.

Water Team members on the ground were: Steve Patchkofsky, Brett Markure, Duban Montoya, Phil Morrison, Reese Piper, Jeff Mangum, Dale Berkness, Jay Mackay, Darrell Moore and Jim Hachigian from New England District; and John Skelton, Willem Helms, Dereck Wansing, Jared Mewmaw, Josh Marx, Mike Daro, and Dennis Wallace from Kansas City District.