CAP wings in Louisiana, Texas launch relief efforts after Hurricane Rita strikes

A Civil Air Patrol Texas Wing aircrew shot this image of the Lake Livingston Dam north of Houston, Texas, on Sep. 24 using CAP's cutting-edge satelliite-transmitted digital imaging technology during a Hurricane Rita aerial damage-assessment flight.

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS - Volunteer members of the Civil Air Patrol, the auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, have conducted 42 aerial damage-assessment and search and rescue missions, positioned aircraft and assembled ground teams in the wake of Hurricane Rita, the second major hurricane to devastate areas of the Gulf Coast in less than four weeks.

Hurricane Rita, with winds in excess of 120 mph, slammed into the coast lines of Texas and Louisiana early Saturday morning and caused catastrophic flooding, massive amounts of wind damage and fires. In addition, she left more than two million people in both states without power.

On Sept. 24, at the request of the U.S. Air Force, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and other state and local emergency management authorities, Texas Wing members flew seven air missions for a total of 13.25 hours. CAP aircrews there are focusing on flood damage assessment in east and southeast Texas.

Meanwhile, two ground teams assigned to the wing’s staging area at Stinson Municipal Airport in Stinson, Texas, (near San Antonio) were awaiting deployment to west Houston. Prior to Rita’s arrival, the wing established a mission base in nearby Addison, Texas, as its primary location for conducting relief efforts. In addition, three staging areas have been set up in Kerrville, Texas, Houston and Stinson. To date, the wing has staged 12 aircraft and 20 aircrews out of Addison and Stinson.

In Louisiana, CAP disaster relief efforts were initially hampered by bad weather, but members there hope to be operating full-bore starting today. So far, wing aircrews there have flown one aerial damage-assessment mission to assess the extent of damage at two airports in south Louisiana.

“While response to Rita has taken center stage, we are still responding to needs in support of the Hurricane Katrina recovery.” said Capt. Pat Yglesias, Louisiana Wing emergency services officer. “Many of the problems created by Katrina in the New Orleans area have been exacerbated by Rita, In fact, we were the first airborne asset to confirm the infamous levee breaches in New Orleans.”

Over the past month, aircrews under the direction of the Louisiana Wing have been instrumental in providing key intelligence in the form of more than 1,500 digital images to state and federal emergency responders. In addition, wing members have flown sorties on behalf of state agencies responsible for restoring community life to the devastated areas, provided transportation to assist with family reunification, located and directed rescuers to some 60 stranded individuals, located and evaluated landing zones and drop zones for military aircraft, assisted in determining commodities distribution points, and even transported Native American elders on an over-flight of devastated Native American communities.

According to Lt. Col. Art Scarbrough, Louisiana Wing director of operations, maintaining continuous operations for nearly a month has been a challenge. “Yet, with the assistance of members from many different wings, we have safely accomplished a broad variety of humanitarian and disaster response tasks,” said Scarbrough.

Both Scarbrough and Yglesias serve as agency liaisons to the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. They manage and coordinate CAP assets being tasked through the LAOHSEP by state and federal agencies. Louisiana maintains a primary staging area at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport in Baton Rouge, La.

CAP's Hurricane Rita disaster relief operations follow extensive and ongoing efforts by CAP members nationwide, who helped the victims of Hurricane Katrina and emergency management officials in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.In September, more than 200 CAP members walked door-to-door in four Mississippi counties to check the welfare of 8,500 residents, provide them with food and water and address needs for medicines and medical treatment. CAP members from 17 states volunteered more than 14,000 hours to the effort and distributed 30,000 pounds of supplies to victims.

In Mississippi and neighboring Louisiana and Alabama, dozens of other CAP members manned and supported more than 673 air missions, of which CAP pilots flew more than 1,303 hours. These missions included search and rescue flights, emergency official transportation and impact assessments.