St. Louis Corps of Engineers activates Emergency Operations Center

Published April 19, 2013

St. Louis, Mo. – Flood preparations are taking center stage in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District.  Col. Christopher Hall, District Commander, activated the emergency operations center at 6:30 a.m. today to increase awareness and to be better prepared to meet any emerging situations.  The activation is in response to predicted precipitation and river stages.

“Activating our Emergency Operations Center is one of the measures we take to better position ourselves to respond to high water events and get our teams out in the field to support our partners,” Hall said.

St. Louis District conducts annual flood preparedness workshops with levee district officials, emergency management officials and other state and federal agencies.  Four such workshops were held in February and March across the St. Louis District.

Corps personnel on flood fight teams have contacted drainage and levee districts to coordinate flood fighting activities and ensure supplies such as sand bags, pumps and plastic are available if needed.  Flood fight teams are an interdisciplinary teams comprised of project managers and engineers.  The size of the team will vary, depending on the river conditions and how large their area is.

Once the teams are on site, their activities include measuring freeboard, which is the difference in elevation between the level of the water and the top of the levee.  This information is then compared to the forecasted river crest to determine how much, if any, flood fighting will be necessary.

St. Louis District emergency experts caution people who live along or travel near are rivers to be watchful for any changing conditions.  Particularly, they should never drive into water on roads.  An apparently small amount of water can have surprising force. Find an alternate route.

For more information, http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Home/FloodFight.aspx

Note to editors:  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Districts are organized along watershed boundaries.  Additional information for areas on the Mississippi River upstream of Lock and Dam 22 and on the Illinois River, upstream of LaGrange Lock and Dam can contact the Rock Island District Public Affairs Office at 309-794-5274.


Contact
Mike Petersen
314-331-8002
michael.w.petersen@usace.army.mil

Release no. 13-029