Skip to content

National Situation Update: Saturday, July 26, 2008

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant National Weather

South
A heat wave is forecast for this weekend from Oklahoma and Texas to the lower Mississippi River Valley, as highs increasingly top 100 degrees.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is under a heat advisory through Sunday and Tulsa, Oklahoma, is under an excessive heat warning through Monday.  Dallas, Texas, will have temperatures around 104 degrees today and around 105 degrees both Sunday and Monday.

Midwest
In the vicinity of a stalled frontal boundary, from the northern Plains to the lower Missouri and mid-Mississippi Valleys, several thunderstorm complexes are forecast.

Although some of the thunderstorms will be severe, with damaging wind gusts, hail and one or two tornadoes, the greater threat will be additional flash flooding rains.

Two days of repeated thunderstorms over southern Iowa and northern Missouri have dumped more than a foot of rain in Kirksville, Missouri.  (National Weather Service, Media Sources)

Tropical Depression Dolly

FEMA Region VI Actions
FEMA Region VI is activated Level II until 6:00 p.m. CDT today
All ESFs 1, 3, 6, 8, 12, 13 and 15 activated, along with infrastructure protection, DoD and USCG
Each will work 6:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. CDT today and 6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. CDT July 27
ESFs 2, 4, 7, 9, 10 and 11 demobilized 7:00 p.m. CDT, July 25; all remain on-call
27 Mission Assignments (MAs) for a total of $3,421,000 have been issued
US Navy and US Air Force Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers (EPLOs) demobilized July 25, 2008
Recommendation submitted to remove DoD Federal Coordinating Center (FCC) to "off alert" status
3 PA PDA teams and 4 IA PDA teams will be operational today
Start date for PA PDAs tentatively scheduled for July 28 - 29
Start date for IA PDAs scheduled to begin July 28
2 teams to begin work Brownsville and 2 teams to begin work in South Padre
No IA PDAs needed in Aransas, Brooks, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio and Starr Counties
2 additional PA PDA teams and Environmental have placed 5 staff on standby in support of PDA teams
FEMA-State Agreement awaiting Governor's signature
Due to some storm repairs to the tentative JFO site, JFO is not projected to open until July 31
MERS personnel and assets deployed
5 Mobil Disaster Recover Centers (MDRC) deployed (1 at Austin Initial Operating Facility [IOF], 1 at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, along with 2 additional from Fredericksburg, MD)
FEMA Region VI IMAT members on site at IOF in Austin; External Affairs IMAT member in Weslaco
1 Mobile Emergency Operations Vehicle (MEOV) and 1 Incident Response Vehicle (IRV) located at Weslaco National Guard Armory to support IMAT Advance Team/DDC
MERS providing Command, Control and Communications (C3) platform for the IMAT advance team
National Logistics Staging Area (NLSA) at Moore Field fully operational and receiving resources
Ft. Sam Houston demobilized on July 25
State requested assistance with generator assessments
Deployable Tactical Operations System (DTOS) Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) arrived in Edinburg July 25
2 LNOs and DCE at Texas EOC
4 Division Commanders in McAllen, with Regional Liaison Officers in Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo and Starr Counties

State Actions - Texas
TX State EOC fully staffed at Level I activation (Emergency Operations/Highest Level)
State priorities include power restoration, POD distribution and re-entry
Major Disaster Declaration (FEMA-1780-TX-DR) signed July 24 for 15 counties for Public Assistance.
15 shelters; 1,394 occupants (NSS Report, 3:30 p.m. EDT, July 25)
1 injured, no reported fatalities
117,330 without power
Rio Grande State Center (hospital) on generator power, but current generator is insufficient; HVAC not operating properly, no air conditioning functioning, with high outdoor temperatures forthcoming
State is moving a 125 kW generator to the site
Six hospitals in the area on diversion, and may not be accepting patients in their emergency rooms
Boil water notice in effect for Laguna Madre Water District (Port Isabel, Cameron County) due to power outages
City of Weslaco (Hidalgo County) water system out of service, unable to provide potable water to Knapp Medical Center or citizens
Estimated to take approximately 14 days to repair and meet Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) requirements for safe water
External Affairs for US International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) reports that there are no issues with flooding or concerns with the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control Project, with levees at roughly 40% capacity
USIBWC to resume normal operations today
Operating 7 POD sites, with 5 additional requested
POD sites operating 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. CDT, until no longer needed
All fuel demands being met; no shortages reported (FEMA Region VI RRCC SITREP #4, 8:00 p.m. EDT, July 25, FEMA Region VI Operations Report, July 25)

Louisiana Oil Spill

FEMA Region VI Actions
FEMA Region VI is activated Level II until 6:00 p.m. CDT today.
FEMA-State liaison at LA EOC
USCG Liaison at LA EOC 
FEMA currently has 30 truckloads (543,000 liters) of water prepositioned 70 miles from New Orleans in Carville
An additional 14 truckload (approximately 252,000 liters) are available in Purvis, Mississippi

State Actions
Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) focusing on continuing response and containment
250 barrels of pure product have been recovered
Water intakes in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes open; drinking water deemed okay for consumption 
No damage reported to water intakes
Intakes in adjoining Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes remain closed pending cleanup of boomed areas and completion of testing for oil and oil byproducts by US EPA and LA Department of Health
Plaquemines Parrish requested and received 22 pallets of water
St. Bernard Parish requested and received 44 pallets of bottled water
Economic impact expected due to MS River closure being calculated by USCG Maritime Transportation System Recovery Unit, in conjunction with industry and the State
The salvage plan for the submerged barge has been delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions (NICC Input, 2:00 a.m. EDT, July 26)
State not expected to request Federal assistance.  (FEMA Region VI SPOT Report #6, 7:00 p.m. EDT, July 25; NOC Senior Leadership Briefing Sheet, 6:00 p.m. EDT, July 25)

New England Severe Weather

Summary:
New Hampshire most heavily impacted.
6 homes destroyed
50 - 100 homes damaged (Epsom, NH); 2 damaged homes (Bridgeton, ME).
1 dead, 13 injured (NH).

FEMA Region I Actions
Individual Assistance PDAs began July 25 in several counties.
Public Assistance PDAs scheduled to begin July 28.
ESF-5 activated at RRCC at 7:00 a.m. EDT, July 24, and is monitoring situation and facilitating communications internally.
3 PAs and 2 IAs ready to deploy.
Senior State Advisor (SSA) seated at NH EOC.
ESF-6 activated July 25.
ESF-8 activated at RRCC at 1:30 p.m. EDT, July 24, 2008.
Early assessments indicate no significant health/medical issues or hospital infrastructure concerns, or likely requests for Federal Assistance.

State Actions
New Hampshire EOC activated at Level I (Normal Business).  (Maynard MOC update, 8:23 p.m. EDT, July 25)
New Hampshire Declaration of Emergency declared by Governor for five counties:  Merrimack, Strafford, Belknap, Carroll and Rockingham; communities most of affected include Epsom, Barnstead, New Durham, Wolfeboro and Alton.
Maine EOC at Level I (Monitoring); proper staff for Level II Activation standing by, as needed.  (FEMA Region I SITREP #1, July 24)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic/Caribbean:
No tropical cyclone activity.  (NWS, Hydro meteorological Prediction Center)

Eastern Pacific:
Tropical Storm Genevieve
At 5:00 a.m. PDT, the center of Tropical Storm (TS) Genevieve was located about 720 miles west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

TS Genevieve is moving toward the west near 13 mph and this general motion is expected to continue during the next couple of days.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased and are near 70 mph, with higher gusts.  Continued gradual weakening is forecast during the next couple of days.

TS Genevieve is a small tropical cyclone.  Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 60 miles from the center.

Estimated minimum central pressure is 990 mb (29.23 inches).

Western Pacific:
No tropical cyclone activity. (NOAA, National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Wildfire Update

National Fire Activity as of Friday, July 25, 2008:
National Wildfire Preparedness Level: 4
Initial attack activity: Light (179 new fires)
New large fires: 4
Uncontained large fires: 37
Large fires contained: 3
States with Large fires - CA, FL, MT, NC, ND, TN, TX, UT, VA and WA

Warmer and drier over most of the West.  Some thunderstorms are expected over Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.  Hotter and a littler drier weather is on tap for central and northern Texas.  (National Interagency Fire Center, National Incident Information Center)

Disaster Declaration Activity

FEMA-1768-DR-Wisconsin; Amendment #13, effective July 25, amends the Major Disaster Declaration to close the incident period for this disaster.

FEMA-1768-DR-Wisconsin; Amendment #14, effective July 25, amends the Major Disaster Declaration to include Greene County for Public Assistance for damages due to Severe Storms, Tornadoes and Flooding that occurred from June 5 - July 25.

FEMA-1771-DR-Illinois; Amendment #5, effective July 22, amends the Major Disaster Declaration to close the incident period for this disaster.

FEMA-1773-DR-Missouri; Amendment #7, effective July 25, amends the Major Disaster Declaration to include twelve additional counties (Audrain, Carroll, Chariton, Christian, Howard, Macon, Miller, Morgan, Pettis, Ray, Shelby and Sullivan) for Public Assistance for damages due to Severe Storms and Flooding that occurred from June 1 and continuing.  (FEMA HQ)

Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 16:34:37 EDT