Army Corps' Pittsburgh District sends 16 workers to provide temporary power in tornado aftermath

The Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent 16 employees this weekend to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency with disaster relief and providing temporary power to Kentucky and other states hit by recent tornadoes.

Severe storms and tornadoes devastated more than 1,000 homes over 200 miles late Dec. 10, leaving approximately 12,300 residents without power in a swath of Southern and Midwestern states, according to the Corps.

The Corps’ Pittsburgh District takes the federal agency’s lead to provide temporary power in manmade or natural disasters, said Carol Vernon, a Corps spokeswoman.

Lt. Col. Timothy Butler, deputy commander of the Corps Pittsburgh District, is leading the Corps Power Planning and Response Team in the tornado-torn areas.

Butler and others were deployed within hours of the storms, she said.

“We were already conducting site assessments so that the team could as quickly and safely as possible provide temporary generators to crucial facilities,” Vernon said.

Currently, about 135 personnel from several Corps of Engineers districts are on the ground and supporting the temporary power mission, she said. The agency’s generator staging base is in Greenville, Ky.

“I’m incredibly proud of the Pittsburgh District employees who answered our nation’s call on a moment’s notice,” Butler said. “We will do everything we can to help our fellow citizens during their time of need.”

The Corps Pittsburgh team delivered 16 generators to help restore power in Kentucky. FEMA is transporting more than 60 generators to the Corps’ Greenville staging base late Monday.

The generators will provide power to hospitals, emergency departments and shelters for residents displaced by the tornadoes. The generators will also power water pumps to provide clean water to the affected areas.