Office of External Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard

Date: June 19, 2008
Contact:  CWO3 Brandon Brewer
(314) 269-2602 / (252) 267-4811

Coast Guard Crews Conduct Flood Response Operations in Missouri, Illinois

ST. LOUIS - Coast Guard boat crews continued to provide on-water support to flood-affected areas of Missouri and Illinois today.

Coast Guard Disaster Area Response Teams (DARTs) were dispatched today to perform a variety of missions under the direction of Missouri and Illinois Emergency Operations Centers:

• One DART and a Coast Guard small boat crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Scioto staged in Canton, Mo., to perform rapid search and rescue operations, if needed.

• One DART worked in the Winfield, Mo., area to perform safety checks on residents who are still in their homes, and also transported U.S. Army Corps of Engineers inspectors to several levee pumping stations.

• Two DARTs operated in the East Hannibal, Ill., are to provide on-water safety boats for National Guard and volunteer workers on the Sny Levee, and to transport workers and supplies for the ongoing work on that levee.

Each DART is composed of three 16-foot, flat-bottom boats and seven crewmembers.  The DARTs conducting flood response are from St. Louis, Mo., Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn.  The Coast Guard Cutter Scioto is homeported in Keokuk, Iowa.

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