Relief work not without risk

Canadian sailors prepped on hazards Include alligators, snakes, live wires

ONBOARD HMCS TORONTO—

Canadian sailors rushing to help the hurricane- battered Gulf Coast have been warned of the hazards they could face when they get there, everything from rattlesnakes and alligators to West Nile virus and live wires. But the Canadians will be spared one grim task: body recovery. Troops sailing to the region quietly feared they might be required to help pull bodies from flooded homes. But Lt.- Cmdr. Larry Trim, Toronto’s executive officer, told the ship’s contingent yesterday that other agencies will be responsible for that work.

“ That’s a relief for the guys. That’s not very pleasant,” said Lieut. Craig Crawley, the officer who heads the 18- person construction team that will work ashore. “ You couldn’t help but think we’d be doing that given the circumstances.” The arrival of the three Canadian warships in the Gulf of Mexico will be delayed by almost a day to Monday after they were forced to detour east into the Atlantic Ocean to avoid Hurricane Ophelia, swirling off the coast of Florida.

Frigates Toronto and HMCS Ville de Québec and the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan turned on a southeasterly course to give the brewing storm a wider berth. By noon today, the task group was expecting to be 460 kilometres off the Georgia coast.

Yesterday morning, Petty Officer 1st Class Christiane Lonergan, a physician’s assistant, told the sailors and troops onboard they should be ready to face plenty of risks once they get in the hurricane zone.

“ Working in a disaster area is physically and mentally draining . . . you may witness traumatic situations,” she said.

There’s a big concern about working in areas that are flooded with water contaminated by sewage and petroleum, as well as serving as a breeding ground for mosquitoes that could be carrying the West Nile virus.

“ If you have to go into the water for any reason, make sure you are protected,” Lonergan told the ship’s company. The sailors were told they could be hit with diarrhea, upper respiratory tract infections and influenza, diseases common to disaster zones. The sailors will also have to keep a sharp eye out for the local wildlife. They were shown pictures of black widow spiders, alligators, poisonous snakes such as cottonmouths and rattlesnakes, all animals they could encounter during their work. Cmdr. Stuart Moors, commander of HMCS Toronto, told the crew to play it safe and avoid injuries.

“ We cannot afford to lose one person. Your safety is critical to us,” Moors said.

“ I think there are risks working in flooded areas,” Trim conceded. “ We’re trying to mitigate the risks to ensure that when they go ashore, they’re safe.” The Canadians have given the Americans a list of their capabilities and supplies and by today hope to have a better idea of where they’ll be going and what they’ll be doing.

“ We’ve told them what we can do . . . We’re just waiting for them to say, ‘ Canada, here you go,’ ” Trim said.

“I can see us doing general clean- up, making buildings safer, perhaps some small construction, using our boats to get into areas that are still flooded.” Commodore Dean McFadden, who heads the task force of three warships and a Coast Guard ship, wants to ensure that whatever the task, the Canadian contingent is kept together. The Canadians could find themselves part of an international coalition; The Dutch and Mexican navies have dispatched ships as well. The three Canadian warships made a dramatic at- sea pit stop yesterday, taking on fuel from the U. S. tanker USNS Patuxent during a rendezvous off Norfolk, Va. The Canadians were forced to rely on the Americans for fuel because their own aging replenishment ship remains tied up at the dock in Halifax.

Rear Admiral Dan McNeil, the military’s East Coast commander, is irked the supply ship wasn’t available for the trip but said it had just come out of a major refit and simply wasn’t ready to return to service.