Annual Highwater Jamboree teaches flood awareness, preparedness

USACE Sacramento District
Published Oct. 21, 2019
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A young boy works the controls of a John Deere excavator during the 2nd Annual Highwater Jamboree in Sacramento on Saturday. Many of the exhibits, including the heavy equipment, displays and booths, offered hands-on experience for children and adults alike. The event is put on through a partnership between City of Sacramento, California Department of Water Resources, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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Tamara Berg, a reporter with KCRA 3 Sacramento, encourages people to come down to Miller Regional Park and check out the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District's sandbagging machine and many other pieces of flood fighting heavy equipment and booths that were part of the 2nd Annual Highwater Jamboree in Sacramento on Oct. 19. The event is put through a partnership between City of Sacramento, California Department of Water Resources, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District brought their Emergency Operations DTOS -- Deployable Tactical Operations System -- to the 2nd Annual Highwater Jamboree in Sacramento on Saturday. Visitors were able to take a look inside the mobile command center, learn how the Corps deploys these vehicles whenever they are needed for an emergency, and even play an instructional video game that teaches flood management.

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Inside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District's Deployable Tactical Operations System, 15-year-old Evan Grijnsztein plays Flood Fighter: Nevada, an educational video game that teaches children about emergency planning and different flooding scenarios. Grijnsztein, a student at Sacramento Country Day School picked the right event to attend, as he is working on his sophomore thesis on the topic of Flooding in Sacramento. The Flood Fighter: Nevada game can be downloaded for free at: http://nevadafloods.org/flood_fighter.htm

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From left, 3-year-old Lindsey, 6-year-old Dillon, and 4-year-old Clayton use clay models to test their flood fighting skills and simulate the ability to protect houses by building secure levees. The kids and their parents were attending their second Highwater Jamboree, Saturday Oct 19.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District brought their sandbagging machine to the 2nd Annual Highwater Jamboree in Sacramento on Saturday to show visitors how much faster it is than trying to fill sandbags manually. In the event of a flood-related emergency, the Corps machine can be rapidly deployed and is capable of filling up to 1000 sandbags per hour.

The 2nd Annual Highwater Jamboree returned to Miller Regional Park in Sacramento on Saturday, Oct. 19, kicking off California Flood Preparedness Week.

Co-hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District, California Department of Water Resources and the City of Sacramento, , the goal of the Highwater Jamboree is to provide an enjoyable atmosphere for visitors to learn about preparation for, prevention of, and responses to possible flooding in the flood-prone Sacramento region.

The event featured demonstrations of flood-fighting techniques and equipment including the Corps’ new automatic sandbagging machine, which can fill as many as 1,000 sandbags per hour, and tours of our emergency response mobile command center.  

With no pun intended, Daniel Bowers, Director of Emergency Management at the City of Sacramento put it this way: “If education is too dry, people won’t absorb it. So events like this one are great ways for citizens to see how the region prepares, and to take note for themselves as well.”

The event also provided children and adults opportunities to climb aboard and get some hands-on time with the wide variety heavy equipment on display. Dozens of booths and displays presented health and safety information from organizations ranging from FEMA to PG&E and many others. Among other events, visitors were able to watch the swift-water rescue team in action (simulated rescue, of course), a sandbagging competition, and with the overarching goal of safety, were encouraged to sign up for emergency alerts.

Check out event video from the Sacramento Bee: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article236455853.html