7,500 Guard troops ready to begin relief operations

Guard troops ready to begin relief operations
By Lolita C. Baldor and Randy Pennell - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Aug 28, 2011
JONESTOWN, Pa. — The National Guard is poised to help states hit by Hurricane Irene.

Maj. Gen. David Harris, director of operations for the Arlington, Va.-based National Guard Bureau, told The Associated Press on Saturday that at least 7,500 Guard troops either have been pre-positioned in key regions or have been told to prepare to deploy to provide help to states affected by the storm this weekend.

“Typically when a hurricane like this goes through, it’s several hours after it passes through before they get a chance to get out and survey the damage,” Harris said. “If there are things that are beyond the state’s capability, that’s when we’ll get those requests.”

The hurricane, with an enormous 500-mile wingspan, knocked out power and piers in North Carolina and hammered Virginia with strong winds as it crept up the coast Saturday. It stirred up 7-foot waves, and forecasters warned of storm-surge danger on the coasts of Virginia and Delaware, along the Jersey Shore and in New York Harbor and Long Island Sound.

In northern Virginia, at the National Guard Bureau’s coordination center, military officials tracked the storm on an array of screens three stories below ground, and they organized massive Army and Air Guard assistance squads, called packages, that will be ready to head to the coastal states over the next day or two.
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