Many of the pumps used by city agencies were rentals from Xylem Inc., which went from renting a typical 80 pumps a week to 300 for two months after Sandy, says Curt Hogancamp, a branch manager. In addition to New York City agencies, the New Jersey-based firm received calls from numerous municipalities and facility operators of drinking water, wastewater, sewage and petroleum. "In our yard, you'd see 70 to 80 pumps in various stages" of repair and readiness, says Ryan Booth, a branch manager. "They were moving in and out of our facility by truck every hour." The firm began operating 24 hours a day, with two skeleton crews and help from colleagues across the U.S.
With no cell-phone service for two days, staffers headed to the branch offices where many clients were clamoring to get pumps. "We were right there in the eye of the storm, and everyone's family had damage to some extent," says Booth. Nevertheless, the firm strove to get more equipment from as far away as Chicago and North Carolina. "We even looked for Chinook helicopters to get equipment in," says Hogancamp. "It was unrealistic, but that's what we looked at."
Most pumps going out were 6-in. units able to pump 1,500 gallons a minute, notes Booth. "The primary line was a diesel-powered pump set. It had a distinct advantage over electric submersibles since generators were hard to come by."
Looking Ahead
The firm is now seeing "a renewed interest from owners in owning their own equipment," notes Hogancamp. "After Hurricane Floyd, there was an uptick in purchasing interest among municipalities. But in the past few years with a down economy, people hadn't been putting so much emphasis on emergency preparedness." Xylem intends to form a hurricane preparedness team to support its operations in future events, says Mike Delzingaro, vice president of sales.
The Army Corps' Rock Island district is looking at possibly obtaining turnkey contractors to strengthen its ready-response abilities for specific areas. "We had no situational awareness of New York City when we got tapped to go out there," says Less. "We're talking to the Omaha [Neb.] district about contingency contracts."
The Navy's Matthews notes that his salvage experts had to think about how to apply their knowledge to unwatering. "What are the related fields? We looked at dredging companies and fracking operations," he says. For example, ship salvaging uses large rubber hose, but section lengths weren't long enough for the tunnels, he says. "One of our subs was an expert at running high-density polyethylene pipes. It brought in truckloads and fused 25-foot sections of pipe together," he says. "The lesson I took away from this is that, when you approach a problem, you can't just rely on past experience."
The effort was not so much about complex engineering as about simple relationships, says Less. "The unwatering was about 10% engineering, 10% experience and 80% teamwork."
