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Office of External Affairs | |
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| Press Release |
Date: June 23, 2008 |
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Coast Guard Shifts to Flood Recovery Operations in Midwest | |
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ST. LOUIS - Coast Guard personnel here are shifting Midwest flood efforts from on-water flood response and assistance to maritime transportation system recovery operations on the inland river system. The Coast Guard established a Marine Transportation System Recovery Unit (MTSRU) here while on-water operations were at their height to start planning for the service's recovery phase operations. The MTSRU collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and leaders from the maritime industry and waterfront facilities from throughout the flood-affected region to develop plans to facilitate the safe and orderly movement of marine traffic as waterways re-open. The MTSRU and partners gathered information and are monitoring more than a dozen indicators of recovery progress and overall health of the marine transportation system. These indicators include:
The group analyzed information on the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers. Flood impacts to the Mississippi River were the most significant, and prompted the group to develop plans to use the Missouri and Illinois rivers as alternatives for commercial vessel traffic since floods caused closures on the Mississippi. The MTSRU analyzed data on river traffic from June 1 through June 18, to compare it with the same period in 2007. While traffic on the rivers has decreased because of flood-related closures, important consideration was given to other factors that would cause a deviation in statistics, such as the exceptionally cold winter delaying the Mississippi River opening for commercial traffic in Iowa for a month longer than usual this year. The group's recommendations to the Coast Guard Captain of the Port here, who has jurisdiction over all navigation on the Western Rivers, included keeping portions of the waterways open to commercial traffic and planning extensive recovery work for aids to navigation. The Coast Guard has kept the Mississippi River open to commercial vessels below Lock and Dam 25, near Winfield, Mo., throughout flood response operations, with safety restrictions, and some traffic has successfully used the Illinois River as a transportation alternative. The Coast Guard will send five cutters underway, after flood waters recede and lock operations resume, to verify the position of all aids to navigation and perform necessary service. This must be done after flood waters recede due to the fact that high water and swift currents cause buoys to dive and submerge, as well as submerging aids to navigation on fixed structures. Flood waters must also recede and swifter than normal currents subside for the buoy tenders to operate safely. All aids to navigation must also be verified in order for the Coast Guard to supply the cutters adequately. The buoy tender crews will be responsible for covering hundreds of miles of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers. Each cutter's mission is expected to take several weeks to complete. "This flood response was very successful and demonstrated just how well local, state and federal government can come together in times of disaster," said Cmdr. Mark Cunningham, Coast Guard Incident Commander for flood response and recovery operations. "Our priority now is to work with industry and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get the Mississippi back on line again." The MTSRU is continuing to work with the Army Corps of Engineers and maritime industry to monitor river conditions and the safe movement of vessels throughout the affected waterways. For more information about the cutters being used for this operation, please visit Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River's website HERE.
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DATE: June 23, 2008 10:25:31 CST
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