Soldiers rush supplies, repair canals after Hurricane Rita

LAFAYETTE, La. (Army News Service, Sept. 26, 2005) – Thousands of Soldiers are providing food and water to stranded residents along the Texas-Louisiana border following flooding from Hurricane Rita.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers worked throughout the weekend to repair a breach in the Industrial Canal. About 400 huge sandbags and tons of rock, placed primarily with military helicopters, have stopped the inflow of water into the lower 9th Ward, officials reported. They said pumping operations have already begun to remove the floodwaters from the area.

Less than 12 hours after Hurricane Rita struck the southwest region of Louisiana, “Joint Task Force All American” Soldiers left New Orleans to begin search and rescue missions through the Vermilion and New Iberia Parishes.

About 5,000 Soldiers from elements of the 82nd Airborne and 1st Cavalry divisions comprise JTF All American and are helping National Guard troops provide humanitarian assistance in western Louisiana.

In Texas, the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade and the National Guard are making supply runs to southeastern counties hit hardest by Hurricane Rita.

The town of Jasper, Texas, was one of the stops for a 1st Cavalry Division CH-47 Chinook Sunday. This town of 9,000 suffered through two hours of winds gusting up to 120-miles-an-hour, according to their chief of police.

“We had six hours of winds up to 90-miles-an-hour,” added Roy Todd Hunter, the city’s police chief.

Hunter said his town, just off Interstate Highway 95, ended up with nearly 2,000 evacuees as traffic jams coming from the coastal cities knotted the Texas highways.

“A lot of them just ran out of gas,” he said. “We had to put them up here during the storm.”

When the Chinook helicopter landed at the tiny airfield in Jasper, Hunter was elated. He said the pallets of food and water were the first support his town had seen.

Even with this first delivery, Hunter said his town has many more needs in the coming days.

“We need fuel,” he stated. “We need generators, and we need thousands of meals a day until the power comes back on.

“Folks here are getting a little nervous,” Hunter added. “We even had some looting going on [Saturday] night. We’ve got a handle on that, but we need to take care of these people.”

Before the storm, the Texas National Guard refueled 260 buses being used for medical and civilian transport in Beaumont and Houston. The Guard was also given the mission of refueling privately owned vehicles that ran out of gas on highways outside of Houston.

In order to complete the refueling of POVs, the State made 650,000 gallons of fuel available to the Texas National Guard. Immediate support to evacuees included 25 fuel trucks and 500 Texas National Guard men and women who distributed fuel at no charge at the direction of Department of Safety and Texas Department of Transportation.

Now the Guard Soldiers are also delivering food and water to people waiting to continue their journey back home.

Aviation reconnaissance missions have been extremely helpful in determining which communities need help first.

“We get a real ‘bird’s eye’ view,” said Lt. Col. Michael Mahony, the operations officer with the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. “You get an entirely different perspective [on the damage done by a hurricane] from the air.”

Mahony said his unit will continue to fly “scout mission,” but that supply missions are the top priority for now.

Working with light amphibious vehicles and about 70 high water trucks, JTF All American troops are able to get through the flooded areas of western Louisiana to conduct their missions, said Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell.

Since Sept. 3, Caldwell has been the commander of 5,000 active-duty troops, including 350 Marines, charged with search and rescue operations, humanitarian relief efforts and evacuation of displaced Americans in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina.

“Task Force All American received orders to move west and establish a headquarters in Lafayette, with missions in New Orleans almost complete,” said Caldwell, adding that as of early Monday morning, remaining missions in New Orleans had been handed over to the National Guard.

“Time is critical in this type of situation,” said Caldwell. By responding quickly to the Hurricane-affected areas, JTF All American is able to conduct search and rescue missions, saving people in need, he added.

“The areas are flooded because the locks to the Louisiana canal broke in the Hurricane,” said Lt. Troy Hebert, Vermilion Parish Sheriffs Office. “Once the current shifts the opposite direction, the flood waters should recede.”

In New Orleans, water in the Industrial Canal has receded more than five feet since Friday’s overtopping and pumping operations have already begun to remove floodwaters from the area.

“We are working around the clock to once again dry the area,” said Col. Duane Gapinksi, commander of the Corps’ Unwatering Task Force. “Working with the city sewer and water board, we were able to pump water from the area this weekend. We are also barging in additional temporary pumps today to the area near Florida Avenue that will help us quicken the unwatering of the area.”

The area is expected to be pumped dry within the next seven days, Gapinski said. Work will continue on shoring up the emergency repairs throughout the week. No additional helicopter sandbag placements are expected in the area, he said.

Other temporary levee repairs throughout New Orleans continue to hold. Teams from the Corps continue to monitor the repairs made after Hurricane Katrina.

The steel sheetpiling installed at the mouth of the 17th Street and London Ave. canals last week should be removed within the next 48 hours if lake levels continue stabilize, Corps officials said. The temporary pilings provided protection from storm surge during Hurricane Rita’s approach preventing water from endangering the temporary repairs made to the canal walls in the area. Using sheetpiling on the Industrial Canal was not possible because of the canal’s depth and width, Gapinksi said.

The Corps is taking a three-phase approach to the levees in New Oleans, Gapinksi said:

First, the Corps is charged with removing the water from the city and assessing the structural integrity of the levee.

Second the Corps will provide an interim level of protection to see the city through this storm season and the traditional high water months of winter.

Lastly, the Corps is charged with returning the system to a pre-Katrina strength by June of next year, he said.

Southwest of New Orleans, the Corps is currently responding to a parish request for assistance to fill a breach in a local levee in Terrebonne Parish near the city of Montagut. Eight helicopters will begin placing large sandbags on the damaged levee, officials said. Work there is expected to take two to three days.

(Editor’s note: Pfc. Jacqueline M. Hawe of the 82nd Public Affairs Office contributed to this article, along with Master Sgt. Dave Larsen of the 1st Cavalry Division. News releases from the Corps of Engineers and Texas National Guard were also summarized.)

I am staying with my sister in Lafayette and it's just awesome seeing all of the military personnel here. I am very thankful because they are here helping my city and state get back on it's feet. Rita did a lot of damage to the infrastructure here.

I haven't had a chance to get into my house yet to see what damage there is but I had a friend check on things and the house is fine but I lost a car from a sycamore falling on it. The people of Lake Charles are very appreciative for their sacrifice.

Be sure to thank the military with hugs or handshakes as appropriate.

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