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Hurricanes Irma and Maria News Releases

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Hurricanes Irma and Maria News Stories

  • April

    A man wearing a mask

    Corps inspects facilities across Minnesota and eastern North Dakota for potential community alternate care sites

    ST. PAUL, Minn. –The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is performing site inspections across Minnesota and eastern North Dakota to support a nationwide FEMA mission assignment to convert existing large spaces into community alternate care sites to augment COVID-19 response efforts.

  • March

    Assessing the viability of a possible alternate care facility in western Pennsylvania.

    Pittsburgh District Works to Increase Treatment Facilities’ Capacity

    During the past week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, in collaboration with federal, local and state partners, deployed assessment teams to evaluate the viability of three possible alternate care facilities (ACF) in western Pennsylvania.
  • The Kansas City District is a team of dedicated professionals with a strong heritage and proven results who, in collaboration with our partners, proudly serve in the Heartland providing leadership, technical excellence, and innovative solutions to the nation's most complex problems.

    Col. Hannan's message to our partners during COVID-19 Pandemic

    The Kansas City District is currently supporting our State and Federal Partners in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Our team is decisively engaged in the well-being of our workforce, their families, and the successful execution of our District's Mission Essential Tasks.
  • The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) arrived in New York City March 30th in support of the COVID-19 response efforts.

    USNS COMFORT Arrives in New York in Support of the COVID-19 Response Efforts

    The USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) arrived in New York City March 30th in support of the COVID-19 response efforts. The Army Corps vessel GELBERMAN travelled alongside the ship as it traveled along the New York Harbor to its newly-dredged dock in Manhattan on the Hudson River.
  • James Buhr, U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville project manager and Emergency Operations Center team member, listens during the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers daily commander’s telecon briefing March 25.

    Huntsville Center EOC streamlines COVID-19 response efforts

    Huntsville Center is supporting the Corps efforts in working with FEMA, the White House, DOD, and other federal, state and local partners by developing plans and specifications for the rapid conversion of hotels, barracks and arena-type facilities into ICU-capable hospitals for treating COVID-19 patients.
  • Jelani Ingram Huntsville Center Acting Branch Chief of Architecture, works to provide concept solutions and engineering sketches for alternate care facility assessments for Corps of Engineers districts to assist in the conversion of hotels, barracks and arenas into alternate care facilities capable of providing care during our nation’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

    Huntsville Center supports alternate care facility assessments

    As the Corps of Engineers Mandatory Center of Expertise for Medical Facility Design, Huntsville Center engineers were quickly brought in by Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, 54th Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of USACE.
  • Hear remarks by Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, USACE Commanding General and 54th U.S. Army Chief of Engineers, specific to support by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the national Coronavirus response. These clips are excerpts from today's press conference in the Pentagon. The full event, including remarks by Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy; Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James McConville; Army Corps of Engineers Commander Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite; and Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Scott Dingle can also be viewed here: https://facebook.com/DeptofDefense/videos/2643688735757461/

    Army to help convert vacant buildings into hospitals as COVID-19 spreads

    Army leaders announced plans to quickly convert unused buildings into makeshift hospitals in multiple states, starting in New York, as hospitals brace for medical shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, construction is set to kick off as the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan will be refitted into a 1,000-bed hospital and an additional 1,800 field medical stations, officials said. Soldiers from the New York National Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and civilian employees will prepare the medical facility, slated to begin operating in a week to 10 days. The race against the virus is “an unbelievably complicated problem” that needs a simple solution, said Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, commanding general of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  • Jacob Javits Convention Center

    USACE begins construction on Alternate Care Facilities

    Work is being done in support of FEMA-led COVID-19 Pandemic Response NEW YORK— The US Army Corps of Engineers, USACE, continues to make significant progress in its efforts to support the FEMA-led response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. Nationwide, USACE has received 5 FEMA Mission Assignments (MAs) totaling $357 million, and has more than 250 personnel providing support.
  • Members of the Norfolk District Alternate-Care-Site planning and assessment team receive there initial guidance while using proper social distancing and disbursing throughout one of the District's training rooms. The team is responsible for evaluating existing building to see if the can be converted to Alternate-Care-Sites, should the need arise from the potential influx of COVID-19 patients.

    Norfolk District teams to evaluate facilities for use as alternate-care-sites in Virginia

    The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has assembled field assessment teams tasked with evaluating existing facilities for the possible conversion into alternate-care-sites in Virginia.
  • Pallets of supplies await to be craned aboard Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) at Naval Base San Diego, March 21. Huntsville Center is providing an $187,000 information technology software acquisition for the Mercy as the ship serves as a referral hospital for non-COVID-19 patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals.

    Huntsville Center contract aids Navy hospital ship supporting coronavirus-19 efforts

    The statement of work calls for a software acquisition so the ship’s medical staff can perform tele-healthcare for patients on shore.

Blue Roof Logo

Operation Blue Roof 1-888-ROOF-BLU (7663-258) is a priority mission managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The purpose of Operation Blue Roof is to provide homeowners in disaster areas with fiber-reinforced sheeting to cover their damaged roofs until arrangements can be made for permanent repairs.

Call centers for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be established as communications on the islands improve.


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Overview

  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is prepared and ready to respond to natural and human-made disasters and overseas contingencies. When disasters occur, USACE teams and other resources are mobilized from across the country to assist our local districts and offices to deliver our response missions.
    • USACE has more than 50 specially-trained response teams supported by emergency contracts to perform a wide range of public works and engineering-related support missions. 
    • USACE uses pre-awarded contracts that can be quickly activated for missions such as debris removal, temporary roofing, commodities distribution, and generator installation.
  • Every year, USACE, as part of the federal government’s unified national response to disasters and emergencies, deploys hundreds of people to provide technical engineering expertise and to promote capacity development at home and abroad. 
    • In 2016, USACE had 1096 personnel deployments in response to one or more of 33 disaster declarations.
      USACE serves as the lead agency to respond with public works and engineering support and to coordinate long-term infrastructure recovery.