Post Hurricane Rita Emergency Call-out Clearance Surveys Various Locations, Texas

We assembled three teams to simultaneously survey the Houston Ship Channel, Sabine River, Port Arthur and Port of Beaumont, using Differential GPS (DGPS) for positioning.

Due to damaged phone lines and the lack of cell phone coverage we supplied satellite hand-held communication devices to enable reliable communications between key USACE staff and TerraSond. We also provided survey personnel for operating USACE survey vessels, since many of their own surveyors were not available because of the hurricane.

We were actively involved and reported to a larger government response team with twice-daily status conference calls that included members from the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA and the U.S. Navy. Results were reported to the U.S. Congress on a daily basis. This team, headed by a Mission Manager for one of the Emergency Operations Centers in Texas, commended us afterwards on our rapid response, quality of work, and communications it provided.

Teams surveyed for seven days using single beam bathymetry with sidescan sonar. Post-processed results were provided to the USACE - Galveston District each day.

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