Taking on Katrina clean up

Greetings: Maj Jason Hedges meets the Secretary of the US Army, Dr Francis J. Harvey.

Wreckage: By now a familiar sight to the world: hurricane damage in New Orleans where fetid water proved as much of a problem as clearing debris. Photo by Maj Jason Hedges

By Leut Greg Keeley

“WE’RE facing the storm most of us have feared,” said New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, “This is going to be an unprecedented event.” This statement just hours before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the south coast of the US proved all too accurate.

For one member of the Australian Army, the natural disaster – unprecedented in US history – was to herald the beginning of an extraordinarily busy period.

A veteran of several natural disaster responses, Maj Jason Hedges, RAE, is currently on a two-year assignment as an exchange instructor at the US Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Working in the demanding role of course manager for the engineer captains’ career course, Maj Hedges – who has a master’s degree in project management and one in management and defence studies – was posted as a liaison officer into one of the parishes hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.

“I’ve worked on the planning and execution of disaster responses in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, so I was pleased to be able to lend assistance and expertise,” he said.

The scope of the hurricane and the disaster were best outlined in the clinical terms of the National Weather Service special hurricane warning.

It stated: “In the event of a category 4 or 5 hit, most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer. … At least one-half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. All gabled roofs will fail, leaving those homes severely damaged or destroyed. … Power outages will last for weeks. … Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.”

Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 storm.

When it swept across the Gulf of Mexico coast and into Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, its winds, storm surge and flooding did significant damage to the road and bridge infrastructure in the coastal areas of these states.

For example, Route 90 – a national US highway – suffered major damage from Biloxi, Mississippi to Louisiana and in some places had been washed out.

Major bridges were overwhelmed by a surge that was so high and powerful that it lifted up whole sections of decking and tossed them into the water beyond.

Tonnes of storm debris littered the region’s roads, making them impassable. More than a month after the disaster, significant portions of New Orleans’ road infrastructure remained inaccessible, covered with foetid floodwaters which had created the additional problem of contaminated road waste.

“The extent of the damage to the city of New Orleans and surrounding parishes needed to be seen to be believed; the devastation was very significant,” Maj Hedges said.

When he arrived in Louisiana, he was tasked as a disaster recovery and relief operations planner with the Louisiana Relief Field Office, Mississippi Valley Division, US Army Corps of Engineers.

“The big issues we faced were structural assessment and debris removal and sanitation – it was a huge task,” he said.

Maj Hedges was well received by the US Army and found himself fully engaged in the humanitarian assistance effort.

“I received an overwhelming response of gratitude towards Australia from almost everyone I come into contact with,” he said.

“The scale of the operation, the complexity of the US inter-agency framework and the response to an Aussie volunteer made this a very unique experience.”