Hurricane Ida: The U.S. Coast Guard SERT Perspective AUTHORS
LT Park Suski
Salvage Engineering Response Team (SERT) U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Center
A
s yet another hurricane powered its way up the Gulf, familiar scenes were left in its wake. Pictures and videos of flooding and destruction began to trickle in from news stations and social media, giving the country glimpses of the devastation and massive upheaval delivered to the hub of the nation’s offshore oil and gas industry. This time it was Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 hurricane which would be recorded as the second-most damaging and intense hurricane in Louisiana history, behind only the infamous Hurricane Katrina. The pictures failed to capture the true scale and magnitude of the damage to the maritime industry in the area. Thousands of vessels, ranging from barges and offshore supply vessels to ferries and fishing vessels, were displaced, damaged, or sunk. Vessels were littered along the Mississippi River and its surrounding waterways, rendering many completely impassable and hazardous. The typically bustling and proud marine industry in the area was in disarray. Despite the mass destruction, the maritime community wasted no time getting to work. Vessel operators took stock of their fleets; many successfully recovered their own displaced assets. Marine salvors began working the banks of the Mississippi. The Coast Guard was on-scene in numerous capacities; aircrews buzzed around the region and marine inspectors scrambled to take initial reports of missing vessels, wrecks, and spills. Salvaging thousands of vessels at any time can be a daunting task. The challenge is compounded when there is a loss of electricity to the entire region and surrounding waterways are obstructed and hazardous to navigate. The Coast Guard Salvage Engineering Response Team (SERT) arrived in New Orleans in the days following the hurricane to provide technical assistance to the local Coast Guard units and marine salvage partners. The SERT is a team of naval architects that possess the technical proficiency and salvage engineering experience needed
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