After Hurricanes Gustav and Ike weaved through portions of Louisiana and Texas in late summer 2008, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mobilized hundreds of staff to oversee and carry out the temporary roofing mission. More than 36,000 temporary roofs were installed in the aftermath of these storms.
The storms tested the mettle of the Corps’ temporary roofing program. At the end of the day, the team demonstrated its ability to rapidly respond to the needs of homeowners for temporary roofing after a disaster by installing more than 10,000 temporary roofs in Louisiana and more than 26,000 in Texas.
Before the 2008 hurricane season, the temporary roofing planning and response team revamped its processes for initiating and managing contracts, as well as for ramping-up and monitoring installations. For example, new contracts call for a target production rate of 300 roofs per day and require the prime contractor to use 30 percent in-house resources to perform the work. Contractors are also required to report installations based on right-of-entry number, rather than the previous system of bulk daily production numbers. The Corps continues to expand its knowledge of new roofing solutions, in part through its membership in the National Roofing Contractors Association. This strengthens the Corps partnership with the roofing industry and supports innovative solutions to a variety of damaged roofs, both of which support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s goal to help people remain or return to their homes as quickly as possible after a storm.