Task Force Hope Support Team contributes to the progress in New Orleans

Story by Katisha Draughn
Public Affairs Office

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Julie Fritz, a hydraulic engineer in the Engineering Division, and Harvey Johnson, chief of the civil works branch in the Engineering Division, were stunned and waited in anticipation with the rest of the world as the natural disaster formed over the Bahamas and ripped through various states from Florida to Texas.

Three years later, that shock and anticipation turned into planning and determination as Fritz and Johnson found themselves on a team that would oversee the external review of the New Orleans District’s efforts to rebuild the Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction System.

Task Force Hope is a branch of the Mississippi Valley Division office formed to lead the emergency response and rebuilding efforts in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2007 contained specific requirements for external review of design and construction, for hurricane and storm damage reduction and flood damage reduction projects. Fritz and Johnson lead the effort for external review of the Task Force Hope projects. 

There are six planning centers of expertise (PCX) which are used to enhance the Corps’ planning capability for inland navigation, deep draft navigation, ecosystem restoration, hurricane and storm damage reduction, flood damage reduction and water supply and reallocation. North Atlantic Division (NAD) serves as the PCX for coastal storm damage reduction.

Amy Guise, chief of the civil project development branch in the Planning Division, serves on the PCX management board, which includes one representative from each district.

“We make decisions on how each PCX will operate,” said Guise. “All the external reviews for the New Orleans projects were given to Baltimore District.”

Task Force Hope is one of many external reviews and Baltimore District became the program manager for Task Force Hope under the PCX.

The initiative to form this type of team came from NAD. Guise was responsible for putting a team together from the Baltimore District to work on the external reviews for New Orleans projects.  Fritz and Johnson both jumped at the chance to work on a project of this magnitude.

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