What does the National Guard do before, during, and after a natural disaster like a hurricane?

The first has to be activated by the Governor of a state, or by the President, depending on what the unit is capable of doing has a big impact on what it will do. Many units provide security prior to landfall, and after to prevent looting. Additionally we may be tasked with sandbag ops, communications, assistance to assets that need support. I.e. after one hurricane our wreckers were tasked to recover stuck fire trucks. Convoying critical items into an affected area is also a mission I have seen. Engineers may have to do other things, and then there is always the ever fun job of body recovery.

For really big disasters there is now a task force that was created by Bush, that has assets stage that can be deployed into the area. Back in 2009 when I worked for the 11th Aviation they were part of this force, they had select team members who were designated to be able to mobilize in a moments notice and had a small contingent on full time orders plus the equipment staged at Knox, they were only part of this task force, they trained with select elements from the Guard and Active duty that were also tasked to support this mission.

I can tell you what an Engineer unit can do. During my time in the Kentucky National Guard, the Engineer Battalion I belonged to supported mission during tornados, floods, heavy snows, and forest fires. We did everything from evacuations, M113 and Hummers are pretty damn good in deep snow and the bridge boats can handle high water easily, provided communications since most DES offices are co-located in the armories, helped with road and debris clearance, and provided equipment and manpower to fight fires. We even threw an expedient bridge or two in place. Even acted as temporary shelters on occasion. While we seldom practiced these missions, the State Command and local units were required to have contingency plans for all of these an a couple more, as an example, earthquakes. Shortly after I moved to Kentucky I was involved in the planning of operations if/when the New Madrid Fault ever goes off again like it did in 1811/1812.

I am seeing some great information here sirs, thanks for the notes. i have been serving since 2008, started with the California Guard, deployed in 2013 to Afghanistan, but due to being commo, was regulated to fobbit status. I was just activated for Hurricane Harvey and this is my first disaster mission. Not entirely sure what to expect, though I am pretty sure I am getting wet, so packed as much wet weather as I can gather.

Be flexible. Be there for the people.

I was with the Guard in California during the Riots Earthquake and Brushfires 3 years in a row. You stand by until needed then you deploy where ever sent and do whatever job they have. We wound up being Guards at a Fema sight once another time working firelines

I was in NOLA for Katrina as a member of the Delaware national guard. We did not have a recip agreement with Louisiana so we did not participate in security operations. We provided communications until commercial systems were back up and running. We did have a recip with Mississippi so some of our guys went over there as Biloxi, Mississippi was wiped off the map.

In addition to what MSgt Hebert and MSG Herrington mentioned the Guardsmen and Guardswomen could be performing roving patrols with the local LEOs securing the disaster scene against looters. During a blizard that occurred here in Kansas while I was in my first enlistment the unit I was with used our tracked vehicles to clear I-70 of stranded vehicles and to bring stranded motorists to our armory as a shelter. The wives of the Unit Administrator and other full-timers came in and fixed meals for the ones sheltering in the armory in Elsworth. I lived in Wichita at the time so I was not called up to go assist in that disaster situation.

If it is a major storm like Katrina the state can also use guard from other states. Just as with after 9/11 the guard is under the orders of the governor so they can assist in law enforcement. Where the active duty can not as they are under the control of the president.