ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (May 6) – During the recent spring floods, April 17 through May 2, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, provided flood-fight supplies and on-the-ground technical assistance to areas along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers and their tributaries.
On April 17, the Corps activated its Emergency Operations Center located at its headquarters in the Clock Tower Building on Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., to assist cities and communities with flood-fight supplies and technical support. Those efforts included deploying specially trained Flood Area Engineers (FAEs) to provide technical assistance to local emergency managers and providing expedient flood-fighting equipment and supplies such as HESCO barriers, sandbags, pumps and plastic sheeting.
The District distributed 232,200 sandbags, 23 pumps, 213 rolls of sheeting, and 4,950 feet of HESCO Bastion flood-fight barriers. Additionally, 93 Corps employees were fully-engaged providing flood-fighting support.
To quickly address flood response needs and provide rapid flood response support, the District opened two field Emergency Operations Centers, one in Quincy, Ill., on April 19 and one in Peoria, Ill., on April 20. After flood waters receded, the Corps closed its Quincy EOC on April 27, and the Peoria and headquarters EOCs on May 2.
The District has approximately 100 specially trained flood area engineers who contact drainage and levee districts to coordinate flood-fighting activities and ensure flood-fighting supplies are available if needed.
The Rock Island District’s Emergency Management mission serves communities in a 78,000-square-mile, five-river-basin area which includes Iowa and Illinois and portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. Communities facing flood events can request Corps assistance through their state emergency management agency.
For more information please visit our Rock Island District Flood Web site at www.mvr.usace.army.mil.