Cooper Chastises Corps of Engineers

Congressman Jim Cooper had harsh words for the Army Corps of Engineers during a Senate hearing Thursday. He says lack of communication about dam releases during May’s flood amounted to surprising local officials with a “water bomb.”

Cooper chastised the Corps for not shifting into emergency mode until midday Sunday, after several people had already died. He criticized information given to National Weather Service forecasters and local officials as being incomplete and overly complicated. And Cooper said the Corps’ internal organization was shoddy.

“The Corps had not read its weather service emails, determined who were essential or non essential personnel, or even established a telephone tree. I know boy scout troops that are more prepared than this.”

In response, the commander of the Army Corps region that includes Nashville admitted there were problems, and said the blame stops with him. But Major General John Peabody argued there was no way of being fully prepared for what the weather service is now calling a “thousand-year rainfall.” He says the operating procedures that weren’t good enough in May had been effective in previous floods.