Corps Connection: Episode 1 (October 2020)

Welcome to Corps Connection our monthly vlog which will take you around the nation and the world covering the US Army Corps of Engineers and what they’re doing in your community for your Airmen and Soldier and their families i’m your host Patrick Bloodgood and this is Corps Connection. [Music] In this month’s Corps Connection we take you to the gulf coast that was hit by multiple tropical systems including Hurricane Laura which caused millions of dollars in damage to Lake Charles Louisiana and surrounding parishes our Omaha District’s Mike Glasch has been on the ground there covering the recovery efforts the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing on behalf of FEMA my name is Anthony Vogel I’m out of the Chicago District and on this mission I’m doing the operation blue roof assessments we try to average between 15 and 20 a day as a pair here when we first pull up to a house we oftentimes we get on the phone so we’ll call the homeowner hi Jared this is Jenny McDermott with the Corps of Engineers, see if we can reach them hopefully they do talk to us and we want to confirm that they still want to have their house tarped because oftentimes they have gotten them done then we go out we measure the length and the width of the house or whatever diameter or whatever dimensions we need to measure with it we take multiple pictures of each house from each side of the house make sure we get there our paperwork we to include a picture of our paperwork in that one of the things that I’m going to be looking for is loose or misplaced shingles or sheet metal that might be on the top of there, what I’m also going to look for is structural integrity of said building just to make sure that it’s safe for our guys to be out there on top of that roof too safety is our first priority over everything this is back to you know one of the positive sides of talking to the homeowners or having somebody that is on site is you know we might not be able to see what’s under that tarp but there is a hole that’s under there it’s really great to be out among the people and to get to hear their stories and to feel like you’re you’re making a difference in someone’s life it’s not that often that you get to do something that that really impacts people directly one homeowner that stood out to me most was we were stopping at a gas station and one of the attendants asked me what we were doing so I explained to her that we were with operation blue roof the benefits that we do the the structural repair that we’ll go through the the putting the battens down the rafter repairs the free tarping just and when she found out that all this was available to her and free to her she broke down in tears and she came from behind the counter and she gave me a big hug and that that brings me to to how grateful everybody is and it makes my day every day makes my day in addition to the blue roof mission the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been tasked with providing temporary emergency power to critical infrastructure in the region we are actually installing a generator for this fire station so that the local community will have fire protection that they desperately need, well we lost one station all together that’s why we have some of our fire trucks here I have four my volunteer firemen living here because they lost their houses so they also respond from here so that’s been a challenge, what the general electricians do is they disconnect the wiring that’s from the city power and what they do is they tape it up and then they hook the generator feed to where the city power would hook to that way when the generator is running that they’ll have power like they need it, that big cube is actually a fuel tank, these generators some of them have fuel tanks on the bottom some of them don’t, the main thing is that they’ve got to make sure that they tape up or cap off the wiring from the city because once they come through and hook the power back up, the power companies, those wires will be live and there will be electricity there if they’re not careful it could damage the building or people inside, but just the professionalism of the people that’s with you working with y’all with the electricians from the drivers dropping the generators you could tell they’re pros at what they’re doing because they could get it real real precise and like i said all my guys are really really appreciative of the generators that y’all brought us, the team installed 90 generators in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura and stands at the ready to deploy once again should the need arise another mission that the Corps of Engineers does on behalf of FEMA is to find temporary housing locations for displaced residents, Mike Glasch caught up with the crew doing a site survey to find out exactly what they are looking for my name is Jane Matheson I am with the Saint Paul District and I am down here as a technical monitor with a housing unit the temporary housing group and we are trying to assess pads in mobile home and RV parks in order to ascertain available pads for FEMA to bring in temporary housing trailers and mobile home units for the displaced victims of Hurricane Laura what we need to assess on the pads is the width and the length we also are looking for feasible utilities meaning water sewer and power if all of those are active and in good shape, can be found so to speak, there is no standing debris on the pad those are some of the highlights that will make the pad feasible in order for a unit to be brought in without much additional work, being able to help out the state of Louisiana and these southern parishes that have been hit the hardest by Hurricane Laura to see the devastation is touching and to see what the local folks have to deal with I feel good about being able to come and help maybe get them in some temporary housing until the time comes when they can find their own permanent homes, our final story from the response efforts in Louisiana focuses on the us army corps of engineers team that helps state and local communities weed through the federal regulations and determine what can and can’t be done during recovery efforts my name is Derek Wansing and I work for the Army Corps of Engineers in Kansas City District I’m here supporting the LGL mission which is a local government liaison we are teamed up with FEMA our FEMA partners so basically we get out locate those folks that are operationally in the field coordinate with them with the local mayors of cities some of the county leaders anybody that we can reach out to to get our messages across for the missions that we have for us to get out and meet with the local officials the mayors some of the councilmen at the lowest level, we want to try to keep issues from escalating we want to talk to them about the missions that we have as the corps of engineers with our partners with our FEMA partners and in order to do that we will team up to get together and meet with these folks and explain and answer any questions so they don’t get elevated occasionally there’s mis-messaging or bad communication sometimes between the locals that mayors are getting feedback from or the county the leaders of the parishes not understanding exactly what we’re doing they may be talking to other roofing crews that are in the area that are actually getting paid to do the work whereas we’re offering a free service to them so we’re we have to clarify a lot of times the difference between a tarp and a blue roof so that they understand that this is a better material something that we’re going to do that’s going to further improve their home until permanent things permanent work is done, for me to have a good day though I want to I want to make sure I feel like I’ve done the… best served the communities that are here, transitioning from the response efforts in the gulf throughout the nation the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers continues to work on solutions to solve 08:49 - many of our nation’s engineering challenges at our engineering research and development center’s coastal hydraulic laboratory engineers are using large-scale models to research how waves and sediment transportation impacts many projects that the corps is working on the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, now ERDC, was created after the great flood of 1927 to support projects all along the Mississippi River and since 1932 we’ve constructed thousands of physical models to support not only the Mississippi River but projects all across our nation on streams rivers estuaries and coasts, now these physical models are an absolutely essential tool in analyzing complex fluid structure systems and they’re extremely valuable in not only the planning and design of built coastal and hydraulic structures but also in better understanding the response and resiliency of natural and nature-based features such as coastal dunes and here at ERDC we have the unique facilities and the passionate people to do this unlike anywhere else in the world these models are value added saving projects millions of dollars by improving designs and saving them from failure we’re also able to improve and rehabilitate existing structures based on tests conducted with our physical models, this provides a great return on investment for our partners, here on station we have two three- dimensional wave generators the large-scale sediment transport facility and the directional spectral wave generator so shown behind me is the large-scale sediment transport facility and it’s capable of generating long shore current with a movable beach and current recirculation system, recently in a partnership with the U.S. Naval Academy and naval post graduate school research was performed using the longshore sediment transport facility on dredge channel infilling rates which is valuable information for military littoral operations so this wave basin is capable of generating both regular and irregular wave conditions so right now what we’re running is a spectral signal so irregular wave conditions where I’m standing is the instrumentation bridge this bridge can actually move across the length of the basin and we use it to mount our instrumentation for data collection like wave gauges and adv’s in addition to our wave basins we have three two-dimensional flumes available on station for use we have the one meter flume the one and a half meter flume and the three meter flume all of these flumes have the capability of generating bo th regular and irregular wave conditions and these capabilities are essential for both civil works research and military operational research recently using the one and a half meter and the three meter flume we’ve tested the us army modular causeway system and perform research on wave attenuation through vegetation and the effects of biomass on beach dune stability and we’ve also utilized these flumes to test novel wave attenuation products from private companies which is what we’re currently testing, our premier facilities here at ERDC give us the capability to test and construct hydraulic models of any location in the world so these physical models can be used for development and refinement of numerical source terms as well as the validation of high fidelity numerical models from flood fighting to sediment transport to military operational research we can just about do it all here with our facilities at the coastal and hydraulics lab here at ERDC we are also unique in that we can combine our physical modeling capabilities with high-tech numerical models by using numerical models to establish the right boundary conditions we can optimize the size of our physical models saving time and money likewise we can use the physical model to validate very complex numerical models allowing us to look at numerous alternatives with the numerical model thereby reducing the number of options that need to be fully tested with our physical model this provides an incredible return on investment for our partners ERDC has a proud tradition supporting the Corps’ civil works mission as well as the Army war fighter, when called upon we answer with the best modeling tools and unmatched technical expertise providing solutions to some of the toughest challenges facing our nation today our final story for this episode takes us to California where the Corps’ Sacramento District has broken ground on the Tule River spillway enlargement project near Potterville California Richard Brown takes us to the ceremony and lets us know why this project is vital to the area the U.S Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District along with local and federal partners have broken ground on the Tule River spillway enlargement project at Success Lake near Porterville California the project has been under review and planning for several years and Sacramento District Commander Colonel James Hondura says the entire partnership is excited to reach this milestone, it’s phenomenal a long time coming and really what it is is it’s taken many years of effort not only with the corps of engineer employees dedicated individuals we have but also with the local and federal officials to get this project moving forward, phase one of the two phase project includes realigning avenue 146 which currently passes through the spillway and becomes inundated during high water encroachment the realignment will reduce road closures due to flooding in the future and will also provide improved access for phase 2 project work which will see construction of a 10 foot high concrete O-G weir across the spillway and completion of the widening of the spillway from its current 200 feet wide to 360 feet wide in the end the project will help reduce the risk of downstream flooding and will increase storage capacity in the reservoir by 28 000 acre feet something the city of Porterville believes will help boost their economic outlook the city as a whole is very dependent on water we’re in a high desert and sometimes subject to drought so management of water is crucial water is used in agricultural endeavors businesses and other economic development as well as the development of housing for its citizens Success Lake is located on the Tule river which drains about 390 square miles of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range local and county officials recognize that more storage capacity in the reservoir leads to opportunities for improved water management for a region that depends on water to support a vibrant agricultural ecosystem this project is is huge for the county and especially with the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act it will mean that the surface flows that will come from this reservoir will be a tremendous boon to our county, in our districts there’s the big industry is the dairy industry and so most of the crops grown in our district is annual crops that are support for the dairy industry feed for the cattle, grains, alfalfa, when commissioned in 1961 the dam was named success dam but was renamed in 2019 to Richard L Schafer Dam in honor of the longtime Tule River water master who was credited with spearheading local efforts to partner with the corps to increase the lake’s water storage, assistant water master David DeGroot has been working alongside Schafer for more than a decade and emphasizes that the partnership’s efforts have more than just a local or even regional impact water is such a valuable commodity it is the most important resource that keeps the central valley going, this valley is the bread basket we provide so much food to the entire world out of this valley and the number one thing that we need to make that happen is water, in addition to enlarging the spillway the project will also provide armoring for the highway 190 bridge that passes over the lake’s Tule River south fork and add additional rock slope protection for Frazier Dike located on the northwest side of the lake phase one construction is expected to be complete in summer 2021 with phase two completion expected in 2023, appreciate once again the support by local sponsors our federal elected officials providing the money in the 2018 supplemental and really the key here is is moving dirt and really a great opportunity to work at all levels to help lower risk for the Porterville citizens in a local area, after working together with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer for years I’m proud that they’re breaking ground on the success reservoir enlargement project to raise and widen the spillway at Schafer Dam this project is vital to improving flood protection for Porterville’s nearly 60 thousand residents and the other communities below the dam Tule is one of the top agriculture producing counties in the nation and by raising and widening the spillway this project will also increase flood protection for hundreds of thousands of acres of prime farmland on the valley floor it’s taken plenty of work and time to arrive at this point but it has been a group effort for their continued dedication to this project throughout the years, I want to thank Brigadier General Colloton and Colonel Hondura and the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers 18:20 - project team I’d also like to thank Richard Shaffer Dan Vink and David DeGroot and the Tule River Improvement Joint Powers Authority for their dedication to advancing this important project your commitment to this cause will undoubtedly save lives, so that does it for our first episode of corps connection, be sure to hit the subscribe button below and like the video and to stay up to date on all things that your U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on be sure to follow us on Twitter Facebook and Instagram until next time I’m Patrick Bloodgood and this is Corps Connection .