Task force
to help provide security support to authorities involved in
hurricane recovery effort
[SEPT. 28, 2005]
SPRINGFIELD -- Answering a request from Louisiana
for additional National Guard forces to assist in the ongoing
hurricane relief effort, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich authorized another
350 National Guard soldiers to travel to Louisiana. The soldiers
will help provide security in the greater New Orleans area.
"Every American is well-aware that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
have combined to produce a natural disaster of unprecedented
proportions and that the national effort to help the people of New
Orleans and the Gulf region recover and rebuild will be long and
difficult," Blagojevich said. "If sending additional Guard forces to
help provide security to that devastated area is what Louisiana
needs, I am proud we can answer the call."
The soldiers are from Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 202nd
Air Defense Artillery of Kewanee and units of the 2nd Battalion,
122nd Field Artillery of Chicago. The primary responsibilities of
the Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers of Task Force 2-122, as
they will be known, will be to assist law enforcement authorities in
maintaining security and public order in New Orleans and surrounding
communities.
"I know our soldiers are proud to be a part of this national
relief effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina," said Maj.
Gen. Randal Thomas, the adjutant general of the Illinois National
Guard. "They have a great call to service, and this is the type of
work they joined the Guard to do. I'm glad that we are able to
provide this support to fellow Americans in need, while keeping up
our commitment to protect and defend the people of Illinois."
More than 35,000 members of the National Guard from across the
nation are currently conducting operations in Louisiana, Mississippi
and Texas in support of hurricane recovery efforts. Approximately
500 are soldiers from the Illinois Army National Guard who were sent
to Louisiana by Blagojevich in the days immediately following
Katrina making landfall. The primary missions continue to be saving
lives, enforcing security, evacuating residents and supporting
existing critical infrastructure. With the exception of a small
stay-behind force, these soldiers are scheduled to return to
Illinois in the first week of October.
The 350 soldiers of Task Force 2-122 are being sent to Louisiana
for approximately 30 days. They are expected to leave for New
Orleans in the next few days, after completing readiness processing
at the Marseilles Training Area complex. The soldiers' processing
includes such things as record checks, immunizations, equipment
issue, physicals, dental screenings, family support activities and
all other pre-mobilization administrative tasks needed to prepare
them for deployment.
Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, Blagojevich
ordered all state agencies to respond in a coordinated manner to
help the recovery and cleanup efforts in the Gulf Coast and the
victims coming into Illinois. Illinois' efforts to date include the
following:
Illinois has received more than
430 displaced victims who arrived from the Gulf Coast states on
four flights arranged by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. Individuals and families received medical care upon
arrival, and the state provided housing in Tinley Park, Elgin,
Alton and Rockford. A total of 4,455 victims directly contacted
the state for services, according to numbers provided by the
Illinois Department of Human Services. The department also
estimates that over 8,600 evacuees are currently in Illinois.
More than 400 children displaced
by Hurricane Katrina are enrolled in 46 school districts across
the state, as districts responded to the governor's call to
waive residency requirements and open their doors to displaced
students.
Blagojevich deployed more than 2,100
Illinoisans to help Louisiana respond to the devastation
resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The deployments include nearly
600 firefighters and 800 National Guard troops.
Illinois state employees donated
more than $91,000 to the American Red Cross Katrina Fund. In the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the governor encouraged state
employees to contribute to the American Red Cross Disaster
Relief Fund. The American Red Cross uses donations like these to
provide food, shelter, counseling and other assistance to
victims of disasters like Hurricane Katrina.
The Illinois Department of
Employment Security is helping displaced victims process
unemployment claims and facilitating job searches and job
training. Employee from the Department of Employment Security
and Central Management Services have set up remote computer
stations at state facilities in Tinley Park and Alton, where the
first displaced victims arrived, and are in the process of
setting up the same services in Elgin and Rockford, where more
evacuees arrived this week.
A partnership between state
government and the private sector is helping find jobs for
people who were displaced by two major Gulf hurricanes and are
now living in Illinois. The Department of Employment Security is
working with the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and Illinois
employers with 250 or more employees to identify job openings
for hurricane evacuees living in Illinois. More than 70
companies responded to the call and have identified hundreds of
jobs.
A group of more than 100 state
employees returned to Illinois after helping the Louisiana
Department of Social Services process 25,000 evacuees for
emergency food stamps, unemployment benefits, temporary housing
and other assistance. Illinois state employees representing more
than a dozen agencies assisted Hurricane Katrina victims in the
Gulf Coast region.
The Department of Financial and
Professional Regulation has asked state-chartered banks and
thrifts to provide free check cashing, eliminate ATM service
fees, and help establish checking and saving accounts for
displaced victims now residing in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of
Revenue extended filing deadlines until Oct. 31 for taxpayers
who owe Illinois taxes and are from counties damaged by
Hurricane Katrina.
Illinois established a toll-free
line to provide Hurricane Katrina victims with immediate
assistance regarding social services offered by the state,
including health care, crisis counseling, food stamps, K-12
public school registration, and services for veterans, seniors
and people with disabilities. The number, 1 (800) 843-6154, is
staffed by the Department of Human Services.
A total of 134 highly trained law
enforcement officers from state and local agencies were deployed
to Louisiana. These include weapons-of-mass-destruction teams,
tactical response teams and underwater dive teams, along with a
mobile command post, various all-terrain vehicles, boats and
trucks.
The Illinois Department of
Transportation contributed 500 yards of fencing and 500 stakes
on two lowboys pulled by two semis in the law enforcement
convoy.
The governor dispatched a total
of 52 members of the Illinois Medical Emergency Response Team to
Louisiana to assist with care of the massive number of sick and
injured victims from Hurricane Katrina and dispatched an
11-member incident management team to George County, Miss., to
assist local emergency managers during the crisis. A 10-member
incident management team recently left Springfield to relieve
the first group. The newly deployed team includes two employees
from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and eight
emergency management coordinators from around the state.
The state's 39 community colleges
are accommodating Illinois residents displaced from higher
education studies because of the hurricane, while Illinois' 12
public universities are taking in students affected by the
destruction along the Gulf Coast.
For hurricane victims, the
Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency have offered free camping and removed
length-of-stay requirements at all state parks and historic
sites that offer camping.
The Illinois Department of
Transportation waived certain transportation rules to allow
standard-sized semis carrying supplies and materials to
Louisiana to be overweight by up to 15,000 pounds when they
travel on Illinois roads. Currently, a standard-sized semi is
allowed to weigh 80,000 pounds when traveling through Illinois.
The Department of Transportation will also grant emergency
permits to companies that need to move oversized equipment to
the affected area.
The Illinois Department of
Corrections made available various items through the Illinois
Emergency Management Agency's emergency procurement system,
including 256,000 half-pints of water, 8,500 blankets, 18,300
clothing items and 2,900 dozen packages of cleaning supplies.
The Department of Corrections has also delivered 3,000 bedrolls
to the Red Cross in Hillside.
The Illinois Department of
Veterans' Affairs sent toiletries and food to facilities where
displaced victims have been housed and, in collaboration with
several other federal and private agencies, will send food to
the Gulf Coast states.
The Department of Central
Management Services made available its Bureau of Communication
and Computer Services to help provide communications assistance
to devastated areas. Using broadband services, including
high-speed data transmission to remote areas underserved by
local carriers, the bureau can provide relief command centers
with uplinks for phone and Internet access, and also links to
shelters so displaced individuals can call loved ones.
The Department of Human Services
sent staff skilled in processing food stamps, to help the U.S.
Department of Agriculture implement a disaster food stamp
program in 25 Louisiana counties.
The Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Public Health
dispatched 12 specialists to Louisiana. The specialists are
members of four environmental health strike teams being sent by
the state at the request of the Louisiana Emergency Management
Agency. Their expertise includes drinking water, sewage, food
safety and food salvage. In addition, two Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency trucks stocked with emergency response
equipment and two Department of Public Health vehicles were
deployed.
