Guard Completes Sandbag, Barrier Missions on Gulf
(June 10, 2010) |
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| | BATON ROUGE, La., June 8, 2010 – The Louisiana National
Guard has completed two missions as part of its response to
mitigate the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill,
officials said today. |
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| Members of the Louisiana and Florida National Guards prepare
to hook a sling attached to an empty fuel tank up to a CH-47
Chinook helicopter at Southwest Pass just off the coast of
Venice, La., June 7, 2010. The Louisiana National Guard's
1023rd Vertical Engineer Co. completed construction of a
Tiger Dam water diversion system on Southwest Pass in an
effort to keep oil from reaching inland. Louisiana National
Guard photo by Army Sgt. Michael L. Owens |
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Guard members yesterday completed sandbagging eight breaches on Pelican Island
in coastal Plaquemines Parish, La., and installed almost six miles of a
shoreline protection system near Venice, La.
The sandbagging operation, started on May 13, repaired gaps in the barrier
island caused by coastal erosion by dropping large sandbags, ranging from 2,000
to 4,000 pounds each, from helicopters. Officials believe these efforts should
help mitigate the impact of the oil spill that's approaching the Louisiana
coastline.
Members of the 843rd Horizontal Company and the 2225th Multi-Role Bridge
Company, 205th Engineer Battalion, filled the sandbags on the ground. The 1st
Battalion, 244th Aviation Regiment airlifted the bags in place with UH-60
Blackhawk helicopters.
The 244th, with assistance from the Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi
and Florida National Guards, flew about 243 flight hours in support of the
mission.
The breaches ranged from 100- to 300-feet-wide, each, and the mission took more
than 3,300 sandbags to complete.
The Louisiana Guard also completed the construction of an almost six-mile long
Tiger Dam shoreline protection system near Venice, La., in the Southwest Pass of
the Mississippi River Delta.
The 1023rd Vertical Engineer Co., headquartered in Oak Grove, La., constructed
the barrier across a beach in the Southwest Pass as a secondary line of defense
to the boom line, to protect the natural marshlands from the approaching oil.
The 1st Battalion of the 244th Aviation Regiment based in Hammond, La.,
airlifted soldiers in and out of the worksite daily due to its remote location.
All of the inflatable barrier material and equipment had to be sling loaded and
dropped in place by the Blackhawks.
The water diversion system, normally used for flood control, replaces sandbags
and is comprised of a series of interlocking flexible tubes that are inflated
with water to form a temporary dam or levee.
As work crews laid out the Tiger Dam material for assembly and inflation, other
crews worked pumps to fill water into tubular sections.
Once completed, the 1023rd worked with the Florida National Guard's 2nd
Battalion, 111th Aviation Regiment, to transport equipment from Southwest Pass
to Venice for cleaning and maintenance. | |
By
Louisiana National Guard
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010
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