Veteran-led disaster response organization Team Rubicon began the heavy equipment operations of “Operation Hard Hustle” on Thursday, September 14, 2017 with equipment and on-site support personnel provided by CASE Construction Equipment. Initial heavy equipment operations included debris removal and home demolition near Rockport and Aransas Pass, Texas, where the eye of Hurricane Harvey made landfall in August. Sonsray Machinery, Inc. of California also shipped compact track loaders in for the operation, and Michelin North America, Inc. donated sets of its Tweel airless radial tires to outfit skid steers working in demolition applications.
“This is the most severe disaster the heavy equipment operators at Team Rubicon have been deployed to since the inception of the equipment operation training program in 2015,” said Scott Harris, vice president — North America, CASE Construction Equipment. “What CASE staff saw in Rockport and surrounding areas were communities coming together to lift each other up and rebuild, and Team Rubicon is there at the forefront. It’s that sense of community and civic responsibility that drove us, and dealers like Sonsray, to step up and join them in Texas.”