Vicksburg, Miss., team cleaning up Minot, N.D., after devastating flood

Photo By Shannon Bauer | Corps contractors remove debris from flooded homes in Minot, N.D., July 20. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, under the leadership of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is assisting the Souris River communities in recovering from flooding.  

MINOT, ND, UNITED STATES

07.23.2011

Story by Shannon Bauer 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District's Debris Planning and Response Team is deployed to Minot, N.D., cleaning up the city and surrounding small towns after record flooding of the Souris River late June damaged more than 4,000 homes.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency tasked the Corps of Engineers with removing debris and temporary levees built during the Souris River flood fight, as well as building group sites where temporary housing will be located for displaced residents. A team from St. Paul, Minn., is working on the housing sites.

"The majority of the town along the river is totally devastated. There were homes with more than 6, 8 feet of water in them," said Jamie Triplett, Vicksburg resident and member of the Vicksburg debris team. “A lot of these people have lost everything.”

The Vicksburg District supports all Corps' Mississippi Valley Division debris related missions, and the Souris River falls within the division. The team is trained to be experts in debris removal and is ready to deploy and be up and running within six hours.

Team members deployed to Minot early July, directly after receiving a FEMA mission and while the Souris was still receding. This is the team's fifth mission since forming a team in June of 2008. Previous missions for the team included debris removal after Hurricane Ike in 2008; the Red River of the North flood in 2009; the tornado in Yazoo City, Miss., in 2010; and the tornado in Smithfield, Miss., in 2011.

“Compared to those four previous missions, this is the worst, because of the total devastation of everything in the river valley,” said Triplett.

Triplett has been on the team since its inception. “I like the satisfaction of helping people and being able to see what you’ve accomplished before you leave,” he said.

The team hopes to finish the cleanup before the North Dakota winter sets in and debris removal becomes impossible, he added. “It’s going to be a race to get this done.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, serves the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. It contributes around $175 million to the five-state district economy. The 700 employees work at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

• Date Taken: 07.23.2011
• Date Posted: 07.23.2011 17:35
• Story ID: 74214
• Location: MINOT, ND, US