The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host a national emergency response exercise at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia from June 11-14. The ‘Northeast Express’ exercise will simulate USACE response activities to a Category 3 hurricane affecting the Delaware Bay area.
Approximately 150 responders from USACE will participate in the exercise along with partners from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Delaware Emergency Management Agency, and the city of Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management. USACE conducts exercises annually to ensure the preparedness of its teams and individuals.
USACE is part of the federal government’s National Response Framework, assisting FEMA by coordinating and organizing public works and engineering-related support to local and state governments. More than 40 specially trained response teams around the country stand ready to perform a wide range of missions following disasters.
Participants in the Northeast Express exercise will act out some of these roles and responsibilities based on the exercise scenarios. Several response teams, including ones that specialize in emergency power and commodities, will be involved in the exercise.
Members of the media are invited to attend and observe the activities. Please contact the Philadelphia District Public Affairs Office at 215-656-6432 for more information.
Every year USACE sends hundreds of people to respond to disasters around the world. In 2012, more than 3,300 USACE employees deployed in response to one or more of 15 major disaster declarations. During and after Hurricane Sandy, USACE had more than 3,000 employees within the North Atlantic Division with an additional 990 team members deployed from other USACE divisions across the Nation, engaged to support the response mission.