CAP Wings Now Preparing For Ike

Members of the Civil Air Patrol’s Louisiana Wing continued Hurricane Gustav damage assessment missions Monday with seven new photo sites, primarily for the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals. To date, the wing has flown four days, 42 sorties and more than 83 hours in CAP Cessna 172s and 182s to photograph dams, river locks, power plants, power lines and gas plants.

Additional missions have been flown for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Louisiana Air National Guard. The Louisiana Wing moved its operations base on Monday to Shreveport, a more accessible location for volunteers coming from across the state to aid communities there. An incident command base also is operational in Gonzales.

Louisiana Wing Cessna aircraft are based in Shreveport, Monroe, Lake Charles, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. During Monday’s missions for the Department of Health & Hospitals, aircrews photographed damage in Shreveport, Baton Rouge, Alexandria and Ascension. An aircrew also flew a utility company employee in a CAP Cessna to overlook damaged power lines.

CAP Lt. Col. Harry Stafford said operations in Louisiana are running smoothly.

"Members have converged upon mission bases to assist, though roads are littered with power lines and downed trees. They are volunteering despite difficulties and damage associated with their own homes," he said.

Gustav, a Category 2 hurricane packing high winds and heavy rains, hammered the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts last week before moving inland as a tropical storm and wreaking havoc on upstate Louisiana. More than 1 million people in the state were left without power in the wake of Gustav, which was downgraded from Category 3 strength before landfall. Flooding was reported throughout the state.

Several states away, CAP's South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia wings were put on alert last weekend and equipment was moved from coastal areas in preparation for tropical storm Hanna. The mission base was closed yesterday after the storm produced minimal damage.

"We were ready in case we were needed," said Lt. Col. David Crawford, wing director of operations. "The North Carolina Wing staffed the CAP desk at the State Emergency Operations Center and was prepared to fly post-storm assessment."

Meanwhile, CAP’s Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas wings are taking similar precautions in anticipation of Hurricane Ike, now a major hurricane churning through Eastern Cuba.

"At this time, most of our efforts are in coordinating with state and local officials, both at the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee and at the Joint Operations Center at the Florida National Guard Headquarters in St Augustine," said Lt. Col. George Navarini, mission information officer. "Both ground, air and mission-base crews across the state stand ready to respond any where in Florida to assist local, state, and federal officials."

FMI: www.cap.gov, www.noaa.gov