Two employees of the Calcasieu Parish
Office of Emergency Preparedness will head to Albany, N.Y., for a
seven-day recovery
assignment to assist areas affected by Hurricane Sandy, which
caused major damage in several states along the Atlantic coast
last week.
Norman Bordeau, OEP operations manager, and Rob Daughdril, the office’s emergency medical service specialist, are part of
a five-person team that is responding to the immediate needs in the areas affected by Sandy, OEP Director Dick Gremillion
said Monday.
The New York State Office of Emergency
Management requested help through the Emergency Management Assistance
Compact, which asks
emergency agencies to help areas impacted by a disaster.
Gremillion said the team will help local officials prepare for all
of the issues that arise following a devastating storm.
“Sometimes, you have a county emergency
management agency with a small staff, and you‘re overwhelmed with all
you have to
do during a disaster,” he said. “Louisiana has some of the most
experienced emergency personnel because of all the activity
we had over the last few years. Someone who’s been through this
before can judge the situation, because there’s a long list
of things you don’t think about.”
Dexter Accardo, director of the St. Tammany Parish Emergency Operations Center; Kevin Davis, GOHSEP director; and Christopher
Guilbeaux, GOHSEP operations manager, are traveling with Bordeau and Daughdril.
Gremillion said that Bordeau and Daughdril may be asked to stay past the seven-day period.
“This is going to be a long drawn-out affair,” he said. “Some areas are still in response mode and haven’t gone to recovery
yet.”
Bordeau has 20 years of experience in emergency management. Daughdril, a registered emergency medical technician, has 35 years
in emergency management.