UI alumnus checks in from New Orleans



Hank Heusinkveld is a public affairs specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers deployed in New Orleans as part of Task Force Hope, New Orleans. Hank is working as a video and still photographer to document the repair work to the breached levee system in New Orleans and the effort to pump floodwater from the city.

“The water had pretty much been pumped out of the city in roughly two weeks and things were holding up pretty well,” said Hank as rain from Hurricane Rita began to fall on Friday, Sept. 23. Later in the day, storm surge and heavy rainfall from the storm resulted in additional flooding.

“Only a few people are left in New Orleans,” he added. “We went out on a night mission to reinforce some of the interim repairs to the breaches to prepare for Hurricane Rita, and there were no lights on anywhere in the city. It was eerie.”

The volunteer effort in New Orleans is international in scale, he says. Dutch and German crews are helping the Corps of Engineers, and law enforcement volunteers come from California, New York and Oklahoma.

Hank says he can only speculate about the extent of the damage to New Orleans. “It could take years to restore the city’s infrastructure.”

Hank lives in Wilmington, N.C. He attended UI in 1980-83 as a telecommunications major.