Emergency Management provides engineering services to respond to national and natural disasters to minimize damages and help in recovery efforts. Public Law 84-99 enables the Corps to assist state and local authorities in flood fight activities and cost share in the repair of flood protection structures. Public Law 93-288 authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to task the Corps with disaster recovery missions under the Federal Response Framework.

Public Law 84-99, Emergency Response to Natural Disasters, is the Corps of Engineers’ basic authority to provide for emergency activities in support of State and Local governments priorto, during, and after a flood event. The Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies (FCCE) appropriation provides funding for PL 84-99 authorized activities. Under PL 84-99, the Corps can provide both emergency technical and direct assistance in response to flood and coastal storms, such as hurricanes and nor’easters. In addition, the Corps can assist if there is a flood threat from damage caused by earthquakes to flood risk management projects. The assistance must be requested by the state, and it must be supplemental to State and Local actions including resources and capabilities, as well as National Guard assets. Under PL 84-99, USACE may undertake the following:

Disaster Preparedness

Emergency Operations

The Rehabilitation Program

Advance Measures

Drought Assistance

Emergency Water Assistance Due to Contaminated Water Source

Public Law 93-288 authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to task USACE with disaster recovery missions under the Federal Response Plan. The Stafford Act provides the authority for the Federal government to respond to disasters and emergencies in order to provide assistance to save lives and protect public health, safety, and property. The Federal Response Plan (for Public Law 93-288, as amended), hereafter referred to as the Plan, is designed to address the consequences of any disaster or emergency situation in which there is a need for federal response assistance under the authorities of the Stafford Act. It is applicable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes and volcanic eruptions as well as technological emergencies involving radiological or hazardous material releases and other incidents requiring federal assistance under the Act.

USACE is the lead agency for ESF #3, Public Works & Engineering; we are FEMA’s engineer. Our pre-scripted standard mission sets include debris removal and clearance, temporary emergency power, temporary housing and critical public facilities, temporary roofing, infrastructure assessment and urban search and rescue structural support. The Corps also lends trained personnel to support other ESFs, such as ESF #9, Urban Search and Rescue, when FEMA activates them. Upon state request, FEMA tasks USACE to execute these missions through mission assignments. If requested, we also perform engineering missions that fit our core capabilities but that do not fall under the above pre-scripted mission assignments.