2005/08 - Hurricane Katrina Rescue & Relief Operations

Exercise/Operation

Hurricane Katrina Rescue & Relief Operations

Helicopters

CH-47 Chinook

Year

2005

The RSAF deployed Chinooks and 47 personnel to aid Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in the US, earning widespread gratitude.

On 29 August 2005, the RSAF assisted in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operation that followed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the US. More than 1,800 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes in US history. The RSAF responded by deploying three CH-47 Chinook helicopters and 47 personnel from its Peace Prairie detachment in Texas to assist in the relief operations. A fourth Chinook was deployed three days later for a week-long relief mission in North Carolina.

Pilot views flooded homes. He wears flight gear and a helmet inside the helicopter.

RSAF airmen on board the Chinook surveying the flooded areas.

Flooded suburb with a Chinook helicopter flying overhead, some houses submerged.

Chinook helicopter flies over flooded homes after a disaster.

Chinook helicopter flies over a flooded city with skyscrapers in the distance.

Crew member in helmet looks into plane's opened cargo bay, revealing supplies in white bundles.

Chinook helicopter carries white bags over a field filled with similar bags. Blue sky.

“After playing a critical role in the tsunami relief efforts earlier this year, the Republic of Singapore was one of the first countries that understood the devastation in our nation and immediately reached out to help those left in Katrina’s wake.”

Joe Wilson, US Congressman, 2005 who acknowledged Singapore's assistance during a speech to the House of Representatives

“The American people were deeply grateful for Singapore’s help…RSAF personnel were saving lives in Louisiana and the other Gulf Coast States, and Americans would long remember this.”

Frank Lavin, US Ambassador to Singapore, 2005 on the RSAF's aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.