In 2005, in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, AECOM supported the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and local government to support emergency and rapid response and long-term recovery.

AECOM worked with FEMA to dispatch over 2,000 FEMA- trained personnel. Services included:

  • Over 2,000 facility damage assessments
  • Performed 1 million residential structure damage assessments
  • Generation of more than 9,500 infrastructure repair statements of work and cost estimates, totalling nearly $2.8 billion in recovery funding
  • Restoration of levees, including raising levees to the newly developed 100- year design levels of protection
  • Design and construction for $40 million repair to the Keesler Air Force Base Hospital
  • Preparation of over 1,900 miles of coastal flooding analysis for 18 counties and parishes
  • Housing recovery planning and implementation
  • Mitigation planning and project development

Data collected from early digital flood recovery maps showed the extent and magnitude of Hurricane Katrina’s surge, as well as information on advisory flood data. This was communicated promptly via the FEMA website to enable communities to be better informed in their rebuild efforts.

Our support to the Mississippi Governor’s Office of Recovery and Renewal enabled sourcing, allocation and coordination of key funding as well as internal capacity building through policy guidance to the Governor’s office and training and education programmes.

AECOM’s work with the Mississippi Development Authority to plan for permanent housing repair and replacement and low-income housing assistance hazard mitigation components, such as elevating homes and adopting building codes were incorporated into resilient housing recovery. The focus on permanent solutions aided the transition from immediate response to long term rebuild by incorporating resiliency into the immediate response phase.