Videos

More than a dozen officials from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, surveyed the Puerto Rico landscape to oversee the progress of a variety of USACE disaster relief missions in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria. The group that participated in the helicopter tour included Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, the commanding general of USACE and the 54th Chief of Engineers; Ryan A. Fisher, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works: Thomas Von Essen, Regional Administrator of FEMA Region II; and Michael Byrne, the Federal Coordinating Officer for FEMA. The helicopter flew over the Palo Seco power plant and a pair of generators, contracted by USACE, that provide and additional 50 Megawatts of capacity to stabilize the grid. The helicopter route also flew over 190 miles of power lines running across mountainous terrain. The work here often has no roads to deliver heavy equipment and material. Everything must be put together in pieces lifted by helicopter and brought to areas cleared of jungle foliage, often by machetes and chainsaws. The Los Alamos debris site in Guaynabo is on of the debris management sites where vegetative debris can be mulched. Currently, 50-80 truckloads of vegetative debris is hauled to this site each day to be mulched. 30-70 truck loads of mulch are hauled daily to the Toa Boa landfill to be used as cover. The route included a view of the Guajataca Dam, one of the many flood risk reduction projects that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Antilles office is involved with in Puerto Rico. The tour stopped at Ponce laydown yard to receive a tour of a warehouse and receive and update from USACE personnel. The laydown yard is one of the primary distribution hubs for power restoration materials on the island. Material received here is usually distributed within 24-48 hours to the contractors. Incidentally, the group also passed over a few historic landmarks and renewable energy sites that are unrelated to the work of USACE on the island. Time code for shots: Palo Seco power plant: :00 Mountain power lines: :34 Los Alamos debris removal site: :58 Highway power lines: 1:06