Corps closes door on USVI Blue Roof mission

ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Island-The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it had completed its temporary roofing mission in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Jan. 15, 2018.

The mission, also known as Operation Blue Roof, began shortly after two Category 5 Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the U.S. Virgin Islands in September 2017.  The storms caused major damage and destruction to the Virgin Islands leaving most of the islands homes with severe damage or complete destruction of their roofs. 

Operation Blue Roof is funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  The Corps mission called for temporary repairs to roofs damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

“We actually completed the mission on January 5 with the last quality assurance re-inspection of a home that received a temporary roof by our contractor,” said Resident Engineer for the temporary roofing program, Peter Pettis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District.

The Corps Omaha District’s temporary roofing Planning and Response Team received the mission just after Hurricane Irma hit and began deploying its team members to St. Croix.  At the height of the mission the team was staffed with more than 120 personnel augmented by Corps employees from all over the enterprise to manage the mission throughout the USVI.

Pettis and two members of his team remained at the St. Thomas office to finish up remaining administrative work and officially closed the doors of its Temporary Roofing Emergency Field Office with Pettis departure on Jan. 15.

Here are some of the highlights of the temporary roofing mission in the USVI

More than 5,300 Rights of Entry were collected at eight Right of Entry collection centers across the islands and the mission completely installed 100 percent of all 3,658 assessed roofs providing residence with some protection from continuing rainfall.

“Operation Blue Roof has applied roughly 4,500,000 square feet of blue plastic sheeting to schools, residential dwellings, and the St. Thomas International Airport,” stated Jay Ling, action officer for the temporary roofing mission in a previous interview on Dec. 21. “That is enough blue plastic sheeting to cover every NFL stadium field more than three times.’