The district’s Emergency Management Branch hosted a Partnership Day, Jan. 28, 2025, to educate emergency management officials with other agencies about how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Emergency Management programs and authorizations operate and how to request USACE assistance after a disaster.
District staff presented on several topics and programs such as the USACE PL84-99 program, which authorizes USACE to perform emergency operations, including Response Operations and Post Flood activities to save lives and protect improved properties (i.e. critical public facilities and/or services, and residential and/or commercial development) during or following a flood or coastal storm (immediate flood threat).
Other presentations focused on the Silver Jackets program, including who is involved and what they do; the district’s Civil Works and Flood Risk Management Program (FRMP), which included an overview of USACE Civil Works authorities; and the district’s regulatory program which focused on the different types of permits and the emergency permitting process.
Presenters also discussed the process of assistance for water, staging locations of USACE materials, the request process and how to get together and plan during blue skies in the case of a grey sky event. At the end of the day, EM staff conducted one-on-one sessions with participants.
Crystalin Medrano, chief of the district’s Emergency Management Branch, said she had a good discussion with officials from the NM Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (NMDHSEM) and Civil Air Patrol and looks to engage further with them.
Fifteen representatives from several agencies participated including state, county, and city emergency management officials and representatives from FEMA and the Navajo Nation.