National Situation Update: Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

National Weather Forecast

West:
A new Pacific storm will deliver rain and snow to areas west of the Cascades in Washington, Oregon and northwest California, along with high winds for portions of the coastal areas. A separate storm will bring snow to eastern Idaho and southern Wyoming, and then move southward through eastern Arizona and New Mexico.
A High Wind Warning will be in effect for the north and central Oregon Coasts from 7:00 a.m. PST this morning through late this afternoon. An Avalanche Warning is in effect for the Wasatch Mountains from the Idaho Border south to Mt. Nebo through late this morning.
Midwest:
A storm system from Canada will move across the Dakotas, Minnesota and northern Wisconsin bringing more snow and freezing rain to the region. Tonight, a new storm center will strengthen over the southern Plains bringing heavy rain and severe storms into Missouri and southern Illinois. Winter Storm Warnings for snow and freezing rain are in effect for most of North Dakota and the northwestern portion of South Dakota until 6:00 p.m. CST Wednesday. A total snow accumulation of 5-8 inches is expected on top of current ice accumulation. Flood Warnings remain in effect for rivers located in eastern Iowa and portions throughout Illinois, Indiana and Ohio until further notice.
South:
Severe weather, to include possible tornado activity, is likely today across eastern Oklahoma, northeast Texas and most of Arkansas. Scattered showers along with isolated storms will affect most of Mississippi, Tennessee and northern Alabama. A Flood Warning is in effect for the Cache River near Patterson, Arkansas until further notice. A Red Flag Warning will be in effect for northwest portions of south-central Texas beginning at noon today and extending through 9:00 p.m. CST this evening.
Northeast:
Light snow or a wintry mix changing to light rain will move eastward over the northeastern portion of the U.S. Parts of northern New England are likely to see light snow or flurries through most of the day
A Flood Warning is in effect for Rock Creek in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania until further notice(NOAA, National Weather Service, Various Media Sources)

Winter Ice Storms - Update

Recovery efforts continue for impacted areas. Federal, State and Local governments are coordinating these response and recovery operations.

Winter Ice Storm – Region IV

RRCC Status: at Watch/ Steady State; 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST (M-F)

Command and control has transitioned to the Kentucky JFO, which stood up on February 7th; hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST (12/7) (RIV Status Briefing, 1818-DR, EST, Feb 7& KY JFO Sitrep #2 as of Feb 9)
Emergency Declaration (FEMA-3302-EM-KY) was signed on January 28, 2009
Major Disaster Declaration (FEMA-1818-DR-KY) was signed on February 5, 2009
FEMA shipments of commercial meals with or without peanut butter products have been halted until further notice

Kentucky

State EOC remains activated at Level III (Full Activation)
Fatalities: 30 confirmed fatalities for FEMA 1818-DR-KY and FEMA 3302-EM-KY (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
ARC and non-ARC Shelters: 30 (+22) Occupants: 484 (+208) (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
Power Outages: 57,000 (-28,000); some cooperatives are estimating it may take up to a month to restore all individual customers, although the bulk of customers should be restored within a week (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
Boil Water Advisories remain in effect for 23 (-4) counties affecting a total population of 84,170 (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
The Critical Facilities Assessment Task Force currently is moving crews throughout the Commonwealth for power site assessments/data analysis for critical infrastructure/key resources; as of February 9th, 25 assessments have been completed out of 2,134 structures (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
The debris clearance mission for the US Army Corps of Engineers is complete; further debris removal will be conducted by the Commonwealth Department of Transportation (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
9 Joint FEMA/Commonwealth PA PDA teams are continuing PDAs in western Kentucky; the Kentucky National Guard is accompanying the PDA teams as an initiative to enhance Kentucky Emergency management (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
12 Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT) composed of the Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Medical (CDC) and Commonwealth personnel are assessing 630 homes for potential health needs; expect to be complete by February 11th (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
MERS personnel are supporting disaster operations at 4 different sites; all MERS assets will be demobilized by February 13th (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
All medical facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes and critical care facilities are fully operational; two nursing homes remain on generator (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
Kentucky operations are currently being supported by Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) from Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
A total of 157 generators have been installed; zero are in process and six have been de-installed. Currently, the generator mission is 99.9% complete. (KY JFO SITREP #2 Feb9)
No additional needs of critical commodities

Winter Ice Storm – Region V

RRCC Status: at Watch/Steady State, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. CST (12/7)

Illinois
Joint PA PDAs were scheduled to begin yesterday in 7 counties

Winter Ice Storm – Region VI

RRCC Status: at Watch/Steady State, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. CST (M-F)

Arkansas JFO is located in North Little Rock; MEOV and IMAT personnel are currently located at the JFO
Emergency Declaration (FEMA-3301-EM-AR) was signed on January 28, 2009
Major Disaster Declaration (FEMA-1819-DR-AR) was signed on February 6, 2009
IA PDAs for Arkansas began today and should be complete by the end of the week; PA PDAs have been completed for 32 counties (AR JFO, Feb 9)
NLSA I McAlister, Oklahoma is now closed (AR JFO, Feb 9)
Arkansas
State EOC activated at Level IV (Full Activation) 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. CST (12/7)
Level I (Normal Operations/Monitoring) from 7:30 p.m. CST - 7:30 a.m. CST
Fatalities: 19 (+4) confirmed fatalities (AR JFO Feb 9)
Shelters 7 (-9) ; Occupants: 70 (-101) All Red Cross shelters have closed (AR JFO Feb 9)
Power Outages: 27,324 (-15,681) customers; restoration unknown at this time (DOE Feb 9)
91 generators installed; 64 de-installed; 4 require installation (AR JFO Feb 9)
Boil water orders remain in place for 14 (-5) counties (AR JFO Feb 9)
No limiting factors or unmet needs

Winter Ice Storm – Region VII

RRCC Status: activated at Level III, 6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. CST
Emergency Declaration (FEMA-3303-EM-MO) was signed on January 30, 2009
LNOs have been released by state EOCs
ESFs 3 and 8 are on stand-by; ESF 12 continues to provide support from a remote location.
PDA: IA PDAs began in Missouri on February 9th, for 16 counties; PA PDAs were completed for 20 counties
Missouri
State EOC activated at Level II , 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. CST
Governor requested a Major Disaster Declaration on February 6
Fatalities: 8 confirmed
Shelters: 6 / Occupants: 33 (MO EMA SITREP, Feb 9)
Power outages: 11,030 (-956) customers (MO EMA SITREP Feb 9)
Five nursing homes on generator power. (MO EMA SITREP, Feb 9)
4 Boil Water Orders in effect ; 3 Boil Water Orders have been lifted since February 7th
No unmet needs and issues

Volcanic Activity – Redoubt Volcano, Alaska

Unrest at Redoubt continues at elevated seismicity
The seismicity is dominated by nearly continuous volcanic tremors
FAA continues to restrict air travel in a 10 mile radius around Redoubt to 60,000 MSL.
(Anticipated concern) if an eruption occurs creating an ash event that will cause respiratory concerns for local populations and interruption of international air traffic
Staff at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is currently monitoring the volcano 24 hours a day
The FEMA Alaska Area Office (AAO) has AVO/USGS as of Feb 7, 2009 established communications with federal and state agencies to mobilize within Alaska to handle the first 12 to 48 hours of federal coordination and situational awareness
The exclusive purpose of this team is to establish a FEMA presence at the Alaska State Emergency Coordination Center (SECC) and maintain situational awareness with the RRCC located in Bothell, WA
If the situation dictates, follow-on resources will be mobilized from the lower 48 and deployed to Alaska
The Aviation Color Code remains at ORANGE and the Volcano Alert Level remains at WATCH(Region X, AVO, USGS, Earthquake Hazards Program)

Fire Management Assistance Grant

No activity. (FEMA HQ)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Western Pacific:
There are no current tropical cyclone warnings. (NOAA, HPC, National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Preliminary Damage Assessments