ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Spring rains and the spring thaw are upon us and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, is gearing up to assist Midwest communities with engineering expertise and flood-fight supplies.
In preparation for potential spring flooding, approximately 50 specially trained Corps’ flood area engineers are receiving hands-on and classroom refresher training, Wednesday, April 2, and Thursday, April 3, on Rock Island Arsenal. Flood-assistance teams are also being organized to provide flood fighting technical assistance to communities within the District’s 78,000 square-mile, five-state area of operations.
Technical expertise is only a part of the District’s public assistance. Flood-fight supplies are also kept in stock for distribution to local organizations, cities, counties and states. The District currently has on hand approximately 2 million sandbags, 2 thousand rolls of polyethylene sheeting, and 100 pumps ranging in diameter from 4 to 16 inches with the capability of pumping up to 10,000 gallons of water per minute.
To expedite the process of obtaining flood-fight supplies from the Corps, the Rock Island District coordinates with local, county and state Emergency Operations personnel on the procedures for requesting flood-fight commodities.
The Rock Island District provides flood-fighting assistance and supplies to communities within its 78,000 square-mile area covering the eastern two-thirds of Iowa, the northern half of Illinois and corners of Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. This area includes 314 miles of the Mississippi River and 268 miles of the Illinois Waterway and their tributaries. The District is the national supplier of Innovative Flood Fight Products for the Corps of Engineers and the Regional Flood Fight Product Distribution Center for the upper Midwest.
For more information about the District’s emergency response activities, visit us on the web @
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/About/Offices/EmergencyManagement.aspx
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MEDIA NOTE: If you are interested in attending the April 3 hands-on training, which includes flood pump operations, sandbag levee techniques, using the sandbagger machine, ringing boils, and expedient flood-fight systems such as HESCO Bastion and Port-A-Dam, please contact the District’s Corporate Communications Office at (309) 794-5204 or (309) 794-5730.