‘Out Front, on the Ground’: WSP Supports Southeast U.S. Hurricane Response

WSP’s emergency management personnel joined thousands of emergency responders across the Southeast U.S., all called to the cumulative aftermath of multiple hurricanes that have hit the region since August.

Most recently, on the evening of Oct. 9, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Sarasota County, Florida, as a Category 3 storm. Milton hit the region south of Tampa with 120 mph winds and a storm surge of up to 10 feet, according to the Associated Press.

This was less than two weeks after the Gulf Coast was impacted by Hurricane Helene’s Sept. 26 landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane. The month before, Hurricane Debby made landfall in the same region as a Category 1 storm on Aug. 5.

Daniel Bridges, senior vice president of project management at WSP, was fortunately able to rescue his mother from Asheville and bring her to his home in Charlotte when Helene worked its way up the coast.

“We also have another employee who had moved from Asheville to Tampa for a project,” Bridges said. “When Helene came ashore in Tampa, he and his wife ended up on the roof of their home for six hours until they were rescued.”

WSP has been working closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) and North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) to deploy and assist with power restoration and repair efforts in these storm-ravaged regions.

It is in the wake of these hurricanes that, like the many other responders in the region, WSP personnel remain vigilant and focused on their collective mission: to serve people.

“Our commitment is to be on site within 24 hours of being notified of an order to deploy,” said Todd Semonite, president of WSP federal programs and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General. “Be it hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires or whatever else, our goal is to be out front, on the ground, supporting our clients and helping residents with necessities.”

According to some estimates reported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Hurricanes Milton and Helene accumulated $300 billion in combined storm damages to the Southeast. This is in addition to the approximately $7 billion from Hurricane Debby.

By Nov. 5, the federal government approved more than $1.5 billion in direct assistance to survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. These funds help survivors with housing repairs, temporary lodging, personal property replacement and other essential recovery efforts.

Since 1995, WSP has worked with FEMA Housing Inspection Services in deploying inspectors in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes. These inspectors review damages to residences to assess the habitability of these dwellings.

As of Nov. 6, WSP deployed more than 1,500 inspectors across Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas who completed 200,000 residential inspections in a little more than a month. FEMA also authorized WSP to recruit, train and deploy an additional 1,000 new inspectors to support Helene and Milton task orders. Additionally, WSP worked with USPS to assess damages at post offices.

This onboarding effort required broad collaboration across business lines, drawing WSP personnel from throughout the states impacted directly by the hurricanes, New York and Chicago.

WSP transports, installs, maintains, repairs and de-installs generators and emergency power for facilities deemed critical to the disaster response and recovery. These can include hospitals, police and fire stations, nursing homes, pump stations, water treatment facilities, post offices and government office buildings.

WSP personnel worked with several agencies to restore power to the grid for North Carolina’s hardest-hit counties, which included 25 generators installed in the field, and progress all phases of infrastructure rebuild efforts.

The firm also worked with USACE on generator maintenance and installations, as well as pre-installation inspections. The teams completed 108 pre-installation inspections across 25 missions this year.

“We are a solutions-driven team, and when the time comes to act, everyone is in go mode,” said Miguel Torres-Diaz, vice president of emergency management at WSP and former secretary of transportation and public works in Puerto Rico.

The WSP Federal Emergency Management (FEM) team has been conducting ongoing recovery services in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and the Caribbean.

These services are under contract with the USACE, FEMA and USPS and include providing generators for temporary power, assessing facilities for cleanups and logistical support, and providing supplies under the emergency management assistance compact, which allows states to share resources during natural disasters.

Since June, WSP has responded to nine events, including five hurricanes, a tropical storm, a tropical disturbance, an “invest” (an area of interest with potential development into a storm) and a wildfire response. Under this contract with USACE, WSP conducted more than 90 missions, including the delivery and installation of more than 50 generators across Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana.

Under the FDEM and in conjunction with partners and collaborators, WSP assisted the State of Florida in its Emergency Transportation Support Task and responded to more than 1,000 missions for Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. These efforts included delivering more than five million meals, seven million gallons of water and more than 600,000 tarps and cots, which were essential resources for hundreds of thousands of affected residents.

Additionally, during Hurricane Helene, WSP, partners and collaborators were activated to support the State of Florida’s response efforts. This combined effort sourced more than 450 pieces of equipment, including pumps, generators, HVAC systems, forklifts and telehandlers. WSP completed more than 60 missions as part of their Materials and Logistics Support Task to aid in the emergency response in the impacted area by Helene.

WSP teams have also completed more than 160 missions in conjunction with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division.

Among these missions are housing and facility damage assessments that WSP is conducting in conjunction with FEMA. These assessments help identify where federal financial aid needs to be provided amidst widespread damages.

The most effective solutions for disaster response and recovery projects come from leveraging WSP’s national network of resources. This allows WSP’s emergency management team to source necessary assets quickly from across the nation.

In tandem with local partners, WSP’s effective response to this extreme weather was conducted through a national network of relationships and resources, combined with swift coordination among local stakeholders.  

“Good relationships are key with all the changes that the team encounters,” said Jennifer Pangborn, WSP vice president, who spoke with dozens of WSP FEM personnel in Florida and the Virgin Islands.

In working with many partners, WSP provides its clients with the agility of numerous local partners, combined with the firm’s strength of scale. This allows emergency management personnel to support the vast and varied relief operations that follow in the wake of devastating natural disasters.

“We have a far-reaching network of connections with vendors who specialize in certain assets and equipment, and we were able to work with them to find whatever it is that these hard-hit communities need, from tents and generators to potable water trucks and almost anything else,” said Justin Stellflug, lead consultant for emergency management at WSP.

Like the thousands devastated by Hurricanes Milton, Helene and Debby, emergency responders face a combination of danger and uncertainty in the field.

“It’s important to acknowledge the sacrifice they make to help around the country with short notice,” Pangborn said. “They’re ready to jump in less than 24 hours after receiving a call, and could be gone from family and loved ones for weeks on end. They don’t always know how long they will be gone – it could be days, or even months.”

But their hard work is desperately needed, and so, they act.

“We are WSP, and in this case, I like to say that it stands for, ‘we serve people,’” Semonite said. “A lot of things change while you’re in the field and you need to adapt very quickly, but we stay focused on the mission and solve problems for our clients and their communities. Our team is absolutely committed about getting our citizens affected by natural disasters back on their feet – that is our mission, our calling and our passion!"