As soon as Hurricane Irma hit Florida, Jose Mattei jumped at the opportunity to help those in need.

A research chemical engineer at the U.S. Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mattei volunteered to help with the Corps of Engineers’ Blue Roof Project and spent a month in Florida volunteering.

“I’ve been wanting to (volunteer) since I joined the Corps in 2008 because I was first at a district and then I came to ERDC two years later,” Mattei said. “I wanted to do blue roof program and the relief programs the Corps has. I have been wanting to do it for a good eight years and when the opportunity came I sort of jumped on it.”

The Blue Roof project helps people who suffered roof damage during the storm make temporary repairs using heavy duty blue tarps.

“What the Corps is doing is signing people up to the program and then having somebody come to their house and verify the damage on the roof and the area, then make a decision, do we have to do just part of the roof or the whole roof,” Mattei said.

“Basically, they tarp with a very thick plastic material over the whole roof so they can be able to live in their house in the time until repairers can actually come through.”

The tarps have to be resilient, because sometimes it can be up to a year before roofers are able to come in and make repairs to all the homes impacted.

“Normally, these tend to be residential properties, which the people who are coming have leaks in their roof or have water filtering in. Sometimes they do know where it’s coming from, other times they do not,” Mattei said. “If you have water filtrating into your house in the humid climate of Florida, you can have mold and a lot of other problems.”

Mattei’s job was helping people to fill out the necessary paperwork to get them enrolled in the program. He spent a month in Florida working in centers in Mount Dora and St. Augustine. Mattei is a native of Puerto Rico and was able to use his bilingual abilities to help people who could not speak English.

“It was a great opportunity to help them,” Mattei said. “The people speaking Spanish, if I wasn’t there those people may not have been able to live in their houses, may not have been able to try to go back to a normal life. Even though it may not be normally what I am used to doing, you are with people and it helps them even if you help just a couple people.”

While he was in Florida helping people in need, his own family and friends in Puerto Rico suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Maria.

He was not able to find out his parents were OK for nearly a week after the storm hit, and although he said emotionally it was tiring, he was able to find some solace in the fact he was helping other people impacted by a hurricane.

“It was nice to help them and even though I was in Florida I wanted to help everyone back home,” Mattei said. “We helped a lot of people. I enjoyed it, but a certain part of you feels like you could do more to help them. The truth of the matter is we are there to help people who do need it and come to us. In a way it is a good and bad thing they come to us. It is bad things because they need help, but it is a good thing because we are able to help them. You are glad you can help them.”