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National Situation Update: Thursday, August 28, 2008

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant National Weather

Northeast
Remnants of Fay are expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches through the evening over parts of northeastern North Carolina, Virginia, northeastern West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
Midwest
Precipitation is expected from the Upper Midwest into eastern Kansas. Some rainstorms are also probable from Wisconsin into eastern Iowa.
Severe storms are possible toward evening across limited areas of Missouri and eastern Kansas.
South
Isolated and locally scattered showers are possible in the Carolinas, Florida, the Gulf Coast, Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of West and south Texas.
West
Isolated storms are possible in Arizona, New Mexico, and western Washington. In the San Francisco Bay area an excessive heat watch has been issued for the East Bay valleys and Santa Clara Valley.
In northwest California, strong offshore winds and high temperatures will lead to extreme wildfire danger. Overall, highs will range from the 50s in the northern Washington Cascades and Glacier National Park to well over 100 degrees in the Mojave and Sonora Deserts and California's Central Valley. (NWS, HPC, Media Sources)

TD Fay Response

The remnants of Tropical Fay have crossed into the Appalachian Mountains and the severe weather threat has moved northward.
Federal Response:
Region IV:
FEMA RRCC remains activated at Level II, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT. Region IV IMAT is deployed to the Florida Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Tallahassee and the Joint Field Office (JFO) in Orlando, Florida. ERT-A status: One team is on alert and the other team is deployed to the Alabama EOC. The JFO for FEMA-1785 opens today, August 28 in Orlando, Florida.
State Actions
Florida:
The State EOC is activated at Level II (partial activation). There has been fourteen confirmed fatalities and six confirmed injuries. Four shelters are open with a population of 412. All sheltered residents are from Lee County. There are 506 customers without power, which is down from 5,000 on Tuesday. The Florida National Guard continues troop drawdown. Currently, the majority of operations include recovery and redeployment.
Alabama:
The Governor has declared a State of Emergency. There has been one confirmed fatality and no confirmed injuries. The FEMA Response Liaison is on site.
Mississippi:
The pre-designated Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) and Response Liaison are on stand by.(SLB; FEMA Region IV)

Tropical Storm Gustav Federal / State Preparations

FEMA NRCC:
NRCC is activated at Level 3 (Watch plus Planning Unit), 24 hour operations.
NRCC will activate at Level 2 (Watch plus selected Emergency Support Functions (ESF) at 24 hour operations) at 7 a.m. EDT on August 28.
National IMAT-East will re-deploy to Baton Rouge by the end of the week.

FEMA Region IV:
Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) is activated at Level 2 (Watch plus selected ESFs. Regional priority is sheltering, transportation and logistics. Region IV IMAT deployed to the JFO in Orlando, Florida will move to Jackson, Mississippi on August 29. The Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) deployed to Alabama.
FEMA Region VI:
The RRCC is activated at Level 2; Planning to activate to Level 1 (full ESF activation level) on Friday, August 29. Warm Cell Hurricane Planning Team is activated in New Orleans.
Pre-designated Federal Coordinating Officers (FCO) are working closely with the States.

State of Texas
The State Operations Center (SOC) will transition to full activation on Saturday, August 30, at 9 a.m. EDT. The Governor is expected to request a pre-landfall declaration. Texas is planning for two contingencies: 1.) response to a CAT 3 hurricane or higher landfall strike and 2.) support of 40,000 to 50,000 evacuees from the State of Louisiana. The Governor has activated 5,000 members of the Texas Militia. 750 buses is en route to San Antonio and 300 ambulances have been requested.

State of Louisiana
The State has identified two large shelters within the State that can be occupied. The State has also conducting conference calls with SE/SW risk Parishes as well as host Parishes. The Governor issued a State disaster proclamation on Wednesday, and FEMA anticipates the Governor will request a pre-landfall declaration. Evacuations will begin 72 hours prior to the arrival of tropical storm force winds. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) will activate their bus contract today for 700 buses; buses will begin to arrive at 9:00 a.m. CDT August 28. LADOTD will activate their truck contract today for pet evacuation. The Louisiana National Guard will be activating 3,000 soldiers. GOHSEP activated the State EOC at Level III on August 27 at 6:00 p.m. CDT, and will transition to Level II at 6:00 a.m. August 28. Potential hospital and nursing home evacuations may begin late Friday. (Region IV, Region VI, Louisiana Unified Command Group Meeting)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic/Caribbean:
Tropical Storm Gustav
At 5:00 a.m. EDT, the center of Tropical Storm Gustav was located about 80 miles east of Kingston, Jamaica and about 170 miles south of Guantanamo, Cuba. Gustav is moving toward the southwest near 8 mph. A turn toward the west is expected later today and to the west- northwest on Friday. The center of Gustav is expected to pass very close to Jamaica later today. Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph with higher gusts. Strengthening is forecast over the next 48 hours and Gustav could regain hurricane strength by Friday. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 50 miles from the center. Gustav is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches over southern Cuba and 6 to 12 inches over Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands with isolated maximum amounts of up to 25 inches possible. These rains will likely produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.

Remnant of Tropical Depression Fay
Remnants of Fay is moving into the Mid-Atlantic states. Flash flood watches remain in effect for portions of central and western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. Flood warnings remain in effect for portions of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. At 11:00 p.m. EDT, the weak surface low associated with Fay was located about 40 miles south of Jackson, Kentucky. The remnants of Fay will continue to move northeastward and weaken tonight.

Tropical Depression Eight
At 5:00 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began issuing advisories for Tropical Depression #8, located about 355 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and moving toward the west-northwest near 5 mph; a turn to the northwest is expected later today. On this track the depression will be passing well north of the Leeward Islands during the next 24 hours. Maximum winds are 35mph. This Depression has the potential to become a Tropical Storm later today or Friday.

Tropical Wave
A large tropical wave located over the far eastern Atlantic about 750 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands is producing limited shower and thunderstorm activity. Some slow development of this system is possible over the next couple of days at it moves westward at 10 to 15 mph.

Eastern Pacific:
Tropical Cyclone activity is not expected during the next 48 hours.

Western Pacific:
There is no current tropical cyclone activity at this time. (NOAA, HPC,  National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

Numerous earthquakes occurred in the Vancouver Island region of Canada, approximately 309 miles west of Vancouver. (USGS, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Wildfire Update

National Fire Activity as of Wednesday, August 27, 2008:
National Wildfire Preparedness Level: 3
Initial attack activity: Light (172 new fires)
New large fires: 8
Uncontained large fires: 27
Large fires contained: 3
States with Large fires: OR, WA, CA, WY, CO, NV, UT, ID, MT, TN, NJ, AZ, and NM.
Northerly, offshore winds will continue in Northern California with poor overnight relative humidity recovery. A high pressure ridge building along the West Coast will bring warmer and drier conditions to much of the West. Dry and windy conditions will continue for Montana and Wyoming. Heavy rainfall will move into the Mid-Atlantic states. (NIFC)

Disaster Declaration Activity

FEMA-1777-DR-Michigan; Amendment #1. Effective August 27, 2008 the declaration is amended to include Saginaw County for Public Assistance.
FEMA-1785-DR-Florida; Amendment # 3. Effective August 27, 2008 the declaration is amended to include Nassau and Palm Beach Counties for Public Assistance, and Volusia County for Public Assistance (already designated for Individual Assistance). (FEMA HQ)

Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 16:33:33 EDT