CAO Deploys to Hurricane Ravaged Gulf Coast
Members of the deployment team fire up the mobile communications vehicle
They left with only three hours notice, driving more than 1,000 miles and for 18 hours to the moment for which years of training had prepared them.
“When our team deployed to Baton Rouge they rose to the occasion, bringing power, laptops and phones to a District Office hard hit by Hurricane Gustav,” said Rob Noll, director of business continuity and disaster recovery, otherwise known as BCDR.
Noll was one of 10 CAO employees deployed to bring mobile communications to Congressman Don Cazayoux’s District Office in hurricane ravaged Louisiana.
It was the House’s first mobile recovery mission.
“I don’t know how you can improve on it. It was incredible,” Cazayoux said of the mobile communications provided.
When they arrived the team fired up the state-of-the-art House Emergency Response Communications Vehicle (HERCV), a sophisticated truck that provides power and satellite communications without draining local resources.
Kurt Knoerl, network communications specialist, and Michael Melvin, technical support representative, work to get data connectivity in the office
Running on little sleep and a lot of adrenaline, they got to work setting up 45 communications stations, equipped with telephone and laptops.
The team set up mobile communications faster than they ever had during an exercise, Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard said. “We got the Congressman’s office up and running quickly and were able to provide communications to his office and his constituents, which are so vital during an emergency.”
Cazayoux said he “immediately grasped the significance” of the service and appreciated being able to offer it.
Hundreds of his constituents used the House’s equipment to file their FEMA claims.
Like many residents of Baton Rouge, Sharon, who declined to give her last name, had been without power for several days when she heard a radio report about the services Cazayoux was offering.
The next day she was the first one in the door.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “With Katrina I stood in line in the heat for five hours. To be able to do everything right here is wonderful.”
Cazayoux remembered the dramatic moment when another local woman came in to use the phones.
Members of the deployment team setup phones and laptops in Congressman Cazayoux’s office
“One of first people to come here broke down crying because she was trying to reach her family and couldn’t because she had no Internet and no phone,” he said. “It was a great thing to help people in need.”
District Director Kelley Gannon was one of several staffers who answered constituent questions and kept the office running.
“We’re glad we can offer it to our constituents, because many of them don’t have computers or would have difficulty getting to a computer to file FEMA claims”
The deployment team’s work was not done after the initial setup was complete—they worked 12 hour days, setting up and maintaining the equipment.
Senior Network Communications Specialist Maria Stoughton said the long days and even longer drive were all worth it.
Senior Network Communications Specialist Maria Stoughton answers a constituent question
“It’s an awesome feeling to be able to do some good. It’s the People’s House so it makes sense for us to help the people.”
Beard praised the team and called their work “a remarkable accomplishment” during a call to Baton Rouge.
“Its testament to all the practice we’ve done, but also your work ethic and your spirit,” he said. “I deeply appreciate it and I know that our staff does too.”
The CAO staff in DC was also hard at work, supporting District Offices with a command station in the Ford House Office building. There, CAO staff from several business units called District Offices to account for staff in the region, check on the status of their office and equipment and offer support. Supplies aimed at restoring operations, such as satellite phones, were dispatched to several affected offices.
Constituents use the computers to file FEMA claims
The D.C. team also supported operations of the mobile unit, making hotel arrangements and tracking Tropical Storm Hannah, which also threatened the Gulf States.
The BCDR program was strengthened after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with the original intent of supporting business continuity in the Capitol region.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the Gulf Coast in 2005, the CAO also began training for deployment to District Offices.
The CAO’s work is not done this hurricane season.
BCDR is currently monitoring the impact of Hurricane Ike out of its command station in Ford. At the request of Congressman Nick Lampson, whose district encompasses hard-hit southern Texas, the team has pre-positioned itself just outside of Houston. When the flooding recedes and the roads are passable the team will setup similar communications services in one of Lampson’s District Offices.
