Operation Blue Roof

We began the Blue Roof mission Oct. 4 and completed it early November, placing more than 20,250 roofs in a little more than a month. The Blue Roof mission allowed homeowners to continue living in their homes while waiting for permanent repairs.

 

Contractors Seeking Work

  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, is working with the full range of federal, state and local partners in response to Hurricane Fiona and the restoration work that will be required in its aftermath.
  • Businesses and individual contractors interested in doing business with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should take the first step of registering with the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://sam.gov/SAM/pages/public/index.jsf
  • The SAM.gov solicitation and contract award system is used by the Corps and many, many other federal agencies for publishing solicitations and awarding contracts.  The Corps draws on the pool of SAM.gov registered businesses to award the contracts necessary to accomplish its missions, including post-hurricane restoration work.
  • Small businesses may be particularly interested in contracting opportunities available through  the Jacksonville District Small Business Program. Information and points of contact may be found at https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/SmallBusiness/.
    Subcontracting opportunities usually result through partnerships with larger companies. Firms interested in pursuing such possibilities can find information from the U.S. Small Business Association at https://www.sba.gov.

Hurricane Ian Response

Okeechobee Waterway and Canaveral Lock Navigation

  • With Hurricane Ian set to make landfall in Florida, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, is suspending its operations at the five lock and dam structures on the Okeechobee Waterway and at the Canaveral Lock.
  • Operations will begin again after potential damage from the storm can be assessed and the locks are deemed safe for operation.
  • Notices to navigation will be posted on this website and through Jacksonville District social media platforms. 

Florida Ports

  • The Jacksonville District has prepositioned its survey vessels and crews near deep draft ports in Florida to provide immediate harbor surveys, if required, once the storm has passed. 
  • We work closely with our partners in the U.S. Coast Guard and various port authorities to ensure a quick return to normal port traffic.

JACKSONVILLE Port Authority (JAXPORT)
TAMPA Port Authority (Port Tampa) 
MIAMI (Port Miami) 
 

Hurricane Ian Response

Hurricane Ian is bringing life-threatening storm surge along the Florida coast, catastrophic wind damage and significant flooding that will affect multiple states. Stay alert to threats in your area, prepare for power outages and take shelter immediately if in the storm's path

The Army Corps of Engineers-Jacksonville District is coordinating closely with Federal agencies and state, local, and tribal government officials in Florida on preparedness and response activities to minimize the impacts of Hurricane Ian on the state, our facilities, and our projects. The Jacksonville District is deploying staff to the state of Florida Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the South Florida Water Management District EOC, and is pre-positioning staff in several key locations, ready to begin recovery operations as soon as it is safe and we receive mission assignments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

This page has both overall and state-specific information and resources related to storm safety, shelter information, news and multimedia products, and rumors and scams.

Recreation Facilities

  • The W.P. Franklin South Day Use Area remains closed. 

  • Our W.P. Franklin North Campground will tentatively re-open Wednesday, November 8.

  • Ortona North Campground and Day Use Areas will re-open Sunday, October 9.

  • St. Lucie Campground and Day Use Areas remain open for business as usual.

  • Campers will receive refunds for any cancelled camping reservations through the reservation system contractor. For more information on refunds, please go to www.recreation.gov or call 877-444-6777.

Costal Shore Protection Projects (Beach Renourishment)

  • Jacksonville District is currently working on 2 coastal shore protection projects with $78 million in contracts on Florida beaches.
  • We have teams of engineers pre-positioned around the state to inspect those and previous coastal storm risk management projects as soon as it is safe to do so. Inspection teams will survey the project and assess if any changes to the project plans are necessary after the storm. 
  • The beach projects are specifically designed to help protect infrastructure from storms like Hurricane Ian, so we not only expect to see erosion on many federal project sites, we believe that without those projects we would see much more damage to buildings, roads, and other facilities from this storm.
  • USACE can also inspect non-federal beaches for damage if given a mission assignment to do so by FEMA through the state EOC.

Corps Mission

Every year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, part of the federal government’s unified national response to disasters and emergencies, sends hundreds of people to respond to disasters around the world. Here at home, USACE assists the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency as the primary agency for public works and engineering-related emergency support. FEMA assigns USACE missions to include: debris management, commodities distribution, temporary housing, temporary roofing, emergency power, infrastructure assessment, and support to urban search and rescue.

  • USACE uses pre-awarded contracts that can be quickly activated for missions such as debris removal, temporary roofing, commodities distribution, and generator installation.

  • When disasters occur, USACE teams and other resources are mobilized from across the country to assist our local districts and offices to deliver our response missions.

USACE South Florida Operations

Herbert Hoover Dike and Lake Okeechobee:

Inspection teams conducted pre-storm inspections of Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) and report no issues with the dike at this time.

  • HHD is safer today than it has ever been going into a storm. Construction on the dike is 97% complete. All the culvert replacements and removals are complete. Cutoff wall construction is 99% complete.
  • As the lake level rises, we have a system in place to increase the frequency of inspections on the dike to detect any potential issues quickly.

The lake stage was 13.60 feet as of 12 a.m. (midnight) Sept. 29. 

  • At this point we expect to make no pre-storm releases from the lake.
  • As is our standard process, we closed all structures before the storm to maintain the integrity of HHD. Structures will remain closed until after the storm passes and it is safe to return to normal operations.
  • With the structures on HHD closed, lock operators will only be able to maintain the C-44 canal level to avoid local flooding by releasing water out of the St. Lucie Lock and Dam (S-80). The decision to release water from that structure is made by the lock operator on the ground in real time to respond to changing conditions.
  • Forecasts are subject to change, but our current assessment is that the lake could rise as much as 3 feet over the next 30 days from Hurricane Ian rainfall and inflow from north of the lake.
  • Thanks to a very dry start to the rainy season, the lake is more than two feet below where it was on this day the past two years. This provides us with more capacity than usual. While there are no absolutes, it looks favorable that we can avoid having to make large-volume releases from the lake following the storm.