National Guard, Corps of Engineers move into New Orleans
By Chris Strohm
cstrohm@govexec.com
The military stepped up its operations Friday in response to Hurricane Katrina, delivering much-needed aid to thousands of stranded people in New Orleans and working to plug levee breaches so the city could eventually be drained.
Four days after the hurricane plowed into the Gulf of Mexico coastline, thousands of Army National Guard troops arrived in downtown New Orleans, one of the hardest hit areas where tens of thousands of residents have been stranded without water, food, shelter and medical care.
Congress passed $10.5 billion in emergency funding Friday to support Federal Emergency Management Agency operations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The primary focus for FEMA and the Coast Guard continued to be lifesaving efforts, including search and rescue operations and helping those with the most urgent needs. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff increased the number of Coast Guard reservists being recalled to active duty to 800.
Thousands of additional National Guard troops poured into the region, many of them military police helping to provide security and restore law and order so relief operations could continue. According to National Guard Bureau officials, by Friday afternoon, there were more than 15,000 National Guardsmen; 7,800 active-duty military personnel; 4,000 Coast Guard members; more than 400 federal law enforcement officers; and 61 FEMA response teams deployed to affected areas.
The number of Guard troops in the region was expected to rise to 30,000 over the weekend. The troops were assisting law enforcement agencies with traffic control and security; transporting and distributing food, water and ice; conducting searches and rescues; providing generators; and carrying out other missions to protect life and property, Guard officials said.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, head of the National Guard Bureau, said 7,000 soldiers were being deployed to restore order in New Orleans.
Officials said more than 320,000 Guard soldiers and airmen from every state, as well as their equipment, were available to support emergency operations if needed.
The Army Corps of Engineers was working on a plan to drain water out of New Orleans. More than 400 employees were working in the city Friday, said said the chief of the Corps, Army Lt. Gen. Carl Strock. The plan entailed fixing some levees while breaching others to allow water to draw off.
Strock said the operation would take weeks, but declined to offer a more specific timeline.
He acknowledged that the city's levees were only built to sustain a Category 3 storm. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 storm shortly before it made landfall Monday morning. But Strock dismissed criticism that flood prevention projects have been underfunded.
"There was some discussion that had the flood protection of New Orleans been funded at a more vigorous rate that these projects would have been complete and this event would not have happened," he said. "It is my personal and my professional assessment that that is not the case."
"The other question is, in general is the civil works budget of the Army Corps of Engineers suffering because of the war in Iraq? Not in my opinion," he added.
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