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National Situation Update: Thursday, April 9, 2009

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant National Weather

West:
A system moving ashore will bring rain and mountain snow to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. Tomorrow, the system will be far enough south to bring rain to Southern California.  A second system is moving onto the Plains but will continue to bring rain and snow to portions of the Northern and Central Rockies.  Gusty winds are forecast for parts of New Mexico and Western Texas. Combined with low relative humidity, this will create a high fire danger with numerous Red Flag Warnings in effect for the region.
Midwest:
The storm moving out of the Rockies will spread rain and thunderstorms across portions of the Plains, Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley through tomarrow.  Severe thunderstorms are forecast for eastern Oklahoma and southeast Kansas and could spread eastward to southern Illinois and into western Kentucky by tonight. These storms may produce large hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes.  On the northwestern side of the storm, cold air will interact with moisture to produce a wintery mix of rain and snow in western South Dakota and western Nebraska. Some locations could receive three or more inches of snow.
South:
The southeast will remain generally dry. However, the low moving out of the Southern High Plains will bring rain showers and isolated thunderstorms this afternoon across eastern Texas and then spread through portions of the lower-Mississippi Valley by tonight.  Some of the storms may be severe with large hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes.  Behind the storm, strong winds and dry air are forecast for central and western Oklahoma and Texas. This may cause some areas of blowing dust and a very high fire danger; numerous Red Flag Warnings are in effect for the region.
Northeast:
Most of the region will have partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies.  A few morning showers are expected in southeast Virginia and the southern Del-Mar-Va peninsula from a low pressure system moving off the Mid-Atlantic.   Northern New England could see a few rain and snow showers due to a trough of low pressure extending from a low over Canada.(NWS, Media Sources)

Red River Flood Preparations

Federal Response:
FEMA Headquarters

  • FEMA NRCC is at Watch/Steady State, 24/7 (Watch only)
  • National IMAT West deployed to ND EOC

 Region VIII:

  • RRCC at Watch/Steady State 6:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. MDT   
  • FEMA LNO is deployed to SD OEM providing technical assistance to the State in its planning for the second crest in mid-April
  • Denver MERS supporting set up of 4 Disaster Recovery Centers

Current Situation:
North Dakota:

  • State EOC activated at Level 1, 24/7
  • IA PDAs are continuing; estimated completion date unknown
  • Second Red River crests forecast for Apr 15-22; expected to equal or exceed previous river crest in Fargo
  • The Grand Forks AFB NLSA will remain open until the second river crest occurs

Region V

  • RRCC at Level III, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. CDT with all ESFs and other federal agencies on standby
  • Region V IMAT will begin demobilization from MN SEOC April 10; estimated time of recovery April 11
  • Region V logistics will establish a Incident Staging Area (ISA) in Dilworth, MN today
  • Region V commodities currently at the Grand Forks, ND staging area will be transferred to Dilworth ISA

Current Situation:
Minnesota:

  • State EOC remains fully activated 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. CDT; State agencies on standby

Flooding and Severe Weather in the South

Heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding over southern Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and northern Florida on March 26 and continuing. Numerous flood warnings exist throughout the Region

Region IV Concerns / RRCC Status:

  • RRCC - Level III, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT
  • ESFs 1 and 3 reporting to the FL DEM for Subject-Matter-Expert and Situational Awareness
  • FEMA LNOs in FL & GA EOC
  • Selected IMAT in Tallahassee, FL to assist State EOC with operations and planning activities
  • Situation Awareness team dispatched to flooded area to serve as liaison with State Management Team
  • FCO-designee monitoring from Florida EOC
  • States of Emergency declared in MS, AL, GA & FL
  • Flooding will move east and affect the Suwannee River Basin

Georgia

  • EOC activated Level III (Partial Activation), 24/7
  • 1 fatality
  • Voluntary evacuations for flood prone areas:  Brooks, Colquitt, Decatur, Lowndes, Miller, Pierce, Thomas and Tift counties 
  • 3 shelters / 10 occupants
  • 6 state roads closed due to flooding will open tomorrow
  • Joint IA PDAs for 19 counties and PA PDAs for 39 counties ongoing

Florida

  • FL State EOC operating at Level I, 24hrs
  • 7 PA PDAs counties are complete; 6 PA PDAs are being conducted today
  • Preparing to deploy 6 Joint IA PDA teams beginning today in Calhoun, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jefferson, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington counties
  • IA PDAs for 8 counties ongoing; PA PDAs for 19 counties scheduled to begin today
  • American Red Cross Preliminary Damage Assessments homes 87 major; 19 destroyed
  • Three areas of operations:  Recovery Damage Assessments to be conducted in the Western Panhandle counties, Response in upper Suwannee River Valley and Response in lower Suwannee and Santa Fe River areas
  • FL Recon teams are in the field
  • FL Governor declared 18 counties disaster areas with 8 more pending declaration
  • 2 fatalities have been confirmed by the state medical examiner contributing from incident
  • 2 shelters are open in Hamilton and Madison with a total population of 8 people

Alabama

  • EOC activated Level III (Partial Activation), 24/7 with select staff
  • 2 fatalities (Houston County)
  • PA PDAs for 20 counties ongoing; IA PDAs for 3 counties scheduled to begin April 14  (FEMA Region IV)

Mt Redoubt

The eruption of Redoubt volcano continues with growth of a lava dome in the summit crater. Small earthquakes and tremors continue.
The aviation color code ORANGE; alert level WATCH
AVO continues to be staffed 24 hours per day  (USGS/Alaska Volcano Observatory)

Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

No significant activity(FEMA HQ)   

Tropical Weather Outlook

Western Pacific:
No tropical cyclone activity affecting U.S territories in the Western Pacific (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

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Wildfire Update

National Fire Activity

  • Initial attack activity: Light (120 new fires)
  • New large fires: 4
  • Large fires contained: 6
  • Uncontained large fires: 10   (National Interagency Fire Center)

Disaster Declaration Activity

On April 7, 2009 the Governor of Indiana requested a major disaster declaration as a result of severe storms, tornados and flooding beginning March 8, 2009 for the counties of Allen, Carroll, DeKalb, Fulton, Jasper, Kosciusko, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Noble, Pulaski, White and Whitely.  (FEMA HQ)

Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 16:26:10 EDT