• Emergency Managers and Personnel
• Situation Reports
• National Incident Management System
• Grants & Assistance Programs
• Training
• Contacts
• Planning
• Best Practices

National Situation Update: Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

National Weather Forecast

Midwest
Blustery winds will prevail over most of the Plains and Midwest. Light snow and flurries will fall on the northern Plains and Upper Midwest.

Northeast
Most of the Northeast will be dry today, but a bit chillier than average for the season. Snow will be limited to lake-effect bands streaming off Lakes Erie and Ontario. These bands will be most prominent in the morning, and then become more chaotic and weaker during the afternoon.

West
Precipitation will be limited primarily to snow showers over northern Idaho, western Montana and northwest Wyoming. In Southern California, the Santa Ana winds will continue to weaken, although wildfire danger will remain high.

South
Except for a few stray showers over south Florida, the South will be dry and quite chilly for early December. Morning lows in the 20s will be widespread with a hard freeze reaching as far south as the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.  (NWS, Media Sources)

Winter Storms – Regional Updates

FEMA Region V
Illinois
Current power outage totals are approximately 146,400.

Macon County has requested National Guard support in conducting residential door-to-door reconnaissance to assist with assessing folk's situation.

The IDOC (Corrections) Academy will be assisting the local American Red Cross and the Helping Hands Shelter by housing 40-50 homeless persons this week.

American Red Cross (ARC) figures to date: Southwestern Illinois Chapter - Alton 19 Occupants; Mid-Illinois Chapter - Decatur, 78 Occupants; Illinois Capital Area Chapter - Springfield 52 Occupants; St Louis Chapter - (Fairview Heights Office) 56 Occupants.

State Emergency Management anticipates that local assessments could be complete toward the end of the week (FEMA Region V, Illinois Emergency Management Agency)

FEMA Region VII
Missouri
Ameren officials report that as of 11:00 am EST Monday, about 152,000 customers in Missouri are without power. 2,000 linemen are involved in restoration efforts. Ameren reports that 550 customers listed as having critical care needs are still without power.  Major locations impacted as of midday Monday include the following:

• St Louis County        98,000
• St Louis City            18,000
• Jefferson County      16,000
• St Francois County  11,000
• Washington County   4,300
• Iron County               2,600

Fatalities: 10 total; 5 traffic deaths (Boone, Jasper, Monroe, Phelps, and St. Francois Counties), 2 carbon monoxide poisoning (St. Louis City), 2 fire related (St. Louis and Scotland Counties), and 1 cold weather related (St. Francois).  Under investigation are 1 potential cold-weather death in St. Francois and 4 potential cold-weather deaths in St. Louis City.

St. Francois County:
Four shelters and 5 warming centers remain open with a total population of 12 people.

Approximately 60% - 70% of towns in the county have power; expect to be at 90% power restored by this evening.

Farmington has 100% restoration of water and sewer; 70% restoration of power.  Bismarck has 50% power restored and has generators available.

City of St. Louis:
Two additional shelters opened housing 198 people and 8 more warming centers opened.  One fire station remains without power.

National Guard and Fire Department crews continue going door-to-door checking on residents with critical needs such as electrically operated equipment; list provided by Ameren.

St. Louis County:
Two nursing homes remained without power Sunday night and on generator power; one was back on line Monday. 

Shelter population at 11 shelters Sunday night was 210.  Two additional warming centers opened. 

County estimates 100,000 cubic yards of vegetative debris with approximately 2/3 on private property.  To date there have been 17 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Washington County:
National Guard troops are conducting well-being checks; more arriving Monday to assist with debris removal.

Four new shelters opened Sunday night, but one does not have power available (Holiday Shores); no residents stayed at any of these shelters overnight (Sunday).

County has had 16 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning Monday.
County is down about ½ of the meals it received and is requesting more, however it has no water shortfalls.

City of Potosi will drop its voluntary boil order.

Jefferson County:
The county had two shelters open but one is closing Monday.

The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) is coordinating and monitoring the situation and requests for state assistance.  The SEMA duty officer is on call 24/7.

The Missouri National Guard has approximately 260 personnel on duty performing various missions; 100 of those will be assisting with debris removal activities in St. Francois County, 100 with debris operations in Washington County and 12 assisting with generator operations in Washington County.

The ARC expects all 6 Missouri shelters to remain open Monday evening with an evaluation tomorrow; and the 30 warming/feeding centers (7 a.m. to 10 p.m. general hours).  The attached excel spreadsheet will show updated counts for the 6 shelters (24 hours open) plus 4 others operated by other volunteer agencies - 2 managed by the ARC and 2 managed by other agencies.

FEMA Region VII is in contact with SEMA for incident updates and briefings. The Governor has requested SEMA to conduct damage appraisals with the potential for requesting Federal assistance.  (FEMA Region VII)

Kansas
No shelters are open.

Bourbon County officials reported that a private Catholic school in Ft. Scott had part of its roof collapse this afternoon.  No injuries were reported.

The State of Kansas expects the most heavily impacted counties to submit their local damage assessments by COB tomorrow (12/05/06). (FEMA Region VII)

Shekell Complex Fire 70% Contained

A fire driven by strong Santa Ana winds flared up early Sunday morning, December 3rd, in Moorpark, Ventura County, California. Winds gusting 35 to 75 mph severely hampered firefighters, and over 13,600 acres have burned. North East winds are blowing at 15 mph with gusts of up to 45 mph, and Red Flag conditions are predicted to continue until 9:00 pm EST today.

The fire had threatened approximately 500 residential structures. Five residences, five outbuildings, and two commercial properties have been destroyed; five residences and one commercial property have been damaged. Agriculture, high tension power lines, high pressure natural gas lines, highway 118 and potential archeological sites remain threatened.

Fire officials called for mandatory evacuations of about 200 homes early Monday; two American Red Cross shelters were opened, as well as several shelters for livestock and pets.
All evacuation orders were expected to be lifted as of 10:30 pm EST on Monday. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department will continue to advise residents of possible evacuations and recommend that residents remain prepared.

As of 10:00 pm EST on Monday 70% of the fire had been contained, and the estimated cost of the fire was $3,250,000. Full containment is forecast for 9:00 pm EST Tuesday.

The Ventura County Fire Protection District and the California Department of Forestry have established a unified command. This unified command also includes mutual aid from various agencies including Ventura City, Oxnard City, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles City, and Federal Fire of Ventura County. There are over 1,745 personnel on scene.

There was an accident with one California Department of Forestry (CDF) Rig that tipped over - one minor injury was reported.
The State requested Fire Management Assistance Grant Program was approved Monday, December 4th; FMAG declaration 2681. (Region IX, Ventura County Fire Department, Media sources)

NOAA Enhances Tsunami Detection for the Indian Ocean

On December 1, 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) joined with the government of Thailand to launch the first of 22 buoy stations in the Indian Ocean that will provide early warning of tsunamis.

The buoy station was launched about midway between Thailand and Sri Lanka. The buoy is the first of twenty two that will comprise the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) system that is designed to detect tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. 

The NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, in Hawaii, and the Japan Meteorological Agency will provide tsunami advisory and watch alerts to 27 Indian Ocean countries on an interim basis until a regional tsunami warning capability is established.

The DART system is designed to help prevent another catastrophe like the December 26, 2004 tsunami, with waves measuring up to 100 feet high, that killed an estimated 225,000 people throughout a large portion of the Indian Ocean including:  Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. The December tsunami was caused by a 9.1 earthquake that occurred off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The death and destruction caused by the tsunami resulted in one of the deadliest disasters in modern history.  (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wikipedia.org)

Tropical Weather Outlook

There are no tropical cyclones affecting U.S. Territories or interests at this time.  (NOAA, National Hurricane Center, Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

No significant earthquake or Tsunami activity reported.  (USGS, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Earthquake Information Center, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Centers)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)