Forging Solutions After Helene: Nashville District’s Sydney Curnes and Tennessee Silver Jackets Earn National Recognition

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 24, 2026) – The National Flood Risk Management Program names Sydney Curnes, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District Silver Jackets Coordinator, as the 2026 Silver Jackets Coordinator of the Year. Her selection highlights her leadership in advancing collaborative flood risk management and strengthening community resilience across the state.

Coinciding with her individual recognition, the Tennessee Silver Jackets also earns the 2026 Silver Jackets Team of the Year award, underscoring the deep impact of the interagency partnership Curnes helps direct.

“Being named Coordinator of the Year was a complete surprise, a truly humbling honor, but it would not have been possible without my co-coordinator Mrs. Julie Duck,” said Curnes. “Honestly, what means the absolute most to me is our team winning Team of the Year. More than anything, I wanted our partners to be recognized on a national stage for their relentless hard work and dedication. They truly earned this, and they deserve every bit of this recognition.”

The Silver Jackets Team The Tennessee Silver Jackets exemplifies the value of a unified approach to disaster preparedness. The coalition promotes interagency collaboration to support flood risk awareness, data sharing, hazard mitigation, and community resilience. Partners include the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, academic institutions, and local emergency managers. Together, these entities establish a comprehensive framework to address flood risks across Tennessee.

This partnership ensures that state and federal agencies are not working in silos but rather integrating their expertise and resources to develop long-term strategies that reduce duplication of effort and strengthen flood warning capabilities for vulnerable communities.

“It is heartbreaking to watch floods devastate communities and families year after year, in Tennessee and across the country,” Curnes said. “When you work across federal, state, academic, and local boundaries, every agency brings its own mission, jargon, and red tape. However, the threat of natural disasters is a powerful equalizer. By keeping the human impact at the very center of every conversation, the organizational barriers naturally begin to fade. Our Tennessee Silver Jackets team takes emergency preparedness and mitigation deeply personally. Because we all share that core mission of protecting lives and homes, aligning our distinct capabilities behind a single, urgent goal becomes second nature.”

Leading through crisis and collaboration Curnes earned the Coordinator of the Year award through her steadfast commitment to transforming these collaborative planning efforts into tangible, life-saving infrastructure investments. Since assuming her role, she has successfully untied federal, state, local, and academic partners around shared objectives creating a model for interagency cooperation that extends beyond Tennessee’s borders.

Her leadership was critically tested and proven in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Identifying critical gaps in flood monitoring capabilities across East Tennessee, Curnes partnered closely with TEMA and other stakeholders to establish the River Gage Task Force. Rather than treating these monitoring gaps as distant, long-term planning challenges, she organized the task force around finding practical, affordable, and rapidly implementable solutions.

“The moment I saw that Headquarters was accepting nominations for Team of the Year, I knew our team had a real fighting chance,” Curnes recalled. “In the wake of Hurricane Helene, our partners have been incredibly driven to collaborate, constantly looking for ways to improve flood preparedness and mitigation across Tennessee. Seeing them show up so completely and consistently has filled me with immense gratitude.”

Delivering tangible results Through Curnes’s active coordination, the Tennessee Silver Jackets Team successfully pursued and secured critical stream gages in East Tennessee. These installations improve flood warning and emergency response capabilities for communities across the region.

Curnes also championedforward-looking initiatives, including multiple academic partnerships. Together with other stakeholders, the team supportsthe development of a GIS-based suitability model to identify the most effective locations for future stream gages.

“Our Silver Jackets state lead, TEMA, has always been aware of gaps in our state's early warning and flood monitoring systems,” Curnes explained. “When we took over the river gage initiative following the sunset of the FEMA mission, our interagency partners were energized and ready to act. While we could have addressed this through our standard Flood Plain Management Services (FPMS) program, securing federal funding through that channel easily could have dragged on for years.”

Recognizing the urgency, the team transformed this critical data collection into a GIS-based suitability model identifying optimal locations for future stream gages with Tennessee State University and other stakeholders.

“Because of the deep trust and strong relationships, we’ve built with our partners, we were able to cut through the typical red tape, mobilize immediately, and rapidly gather the exact data needed to pinpoint and address these critical monitoring gaps,” Curnes added.

Willem Helms, Director of Contingency Operations and Chief of the Office of Homeland Security, commended Curnes for her ability to translate identified needs into actionable projects.

“Sydney’s accomplishments embody the core principles of the National Flood Risk Management Program and the Silver Jackets initiative: shared responsibility, collaboration, innovation, and community resilience,” Helms stated in the award announcement. “Her efforts demonstrate how effective coordination facilitates shared responsibility, beyond identifying problems and toward implementing practical solutions that deliver measurable risk reduction benefits to communities.”

Curnes and the Tennessee Silver Jackets Team were formally recognized for their achievements and community service at the Silver Jackets Coordinator Training.

About Us The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District delivers engineering solutions, with our partners, to secure our Nation, strengthen our economy, and reduce disaster risk. USACE is engineering solutions to the nation’s toughest challenges while safely delivering quality projects on schedule and within budget. Nashville District manages critical water resources infrastructure across the Cumberland and Tennessee River basins in a seven-state region. The district delivers navigation, flood risk management, hydropower, recreation, environmental stewardship, water supply support, regulatory oversight, and emergency response while operating dams in the Cumberland River Basin and maintaining navigation lock projects on the Cumberland and Tennessee River systems. Through this work, the district helps protect communities, support commerce, generate renewable energy, and improve quality of life.

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