Baltimore Army Corps Of Engineers Going To Hawaii For Hurricane Cleanup
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A special team from the Baltimore District for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is heading to Hawaii to assist as a Category 4 hurricane nears the state.
The "specially trained debris management team" left for Honolulu on Wednesday to help with any emergency response that is needed.
They are just one team in position to help Hawaii, whose Gov. David Ige issued a state of emergency Tuesday.
"We continue to work together as one team. Federal, state and county agencies working to keep the community safe," Ige said.
Vice President Mike Pence was in Rockport, Texas on Wednesday for the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey to announce that the federal government is standing with Hawaii.
"We have stood up resources in Washington, D.C. as well as in Hawaii pre-positioning assets to be prepared with Hurricane Lane makes landfall," Pence said.
Baltimore District's Debris Planning and Response Team is one of seven debris teams across the U.S.
"We open their infrastructure routes, clear their power-lines routes and then start to help the locals handle what used to be their homes and their communities that now just look like rubble," said Dorie Murphy, District Chief of Emergency Management.
The group assisted with large debris removal in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and in California during wildfires last October.
"The team will stay in place we call it 'from the cradle to the grave' right? From the beginning to the event until the response mission wraps down," Murphy said.
The team is prepared to be there for a minimum of 30 days.
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