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National Situation Update: Saturday, April 18, 2009

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant National Weather

Midwest:
Rain and thunderstorms will move from South Dakota and the central Plains into the mid-Mississippi Valley. Nebraska will see the heaviest rains, possibly 1-2 inches. Kansas will see a few severe thunderstorms. The rain will stay south of the most heavily flooded areas of North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. By Sunday most of the region, except northern Michigan, North Dakota, central and western South Dakota, and western Nebraska are forecast to have heavy rains and a few thunderstorms.
South:
The recent heavy rain and thunderstorm activity will move eastward focusing on southeastern and eastern Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and western Mississippi. Rainfall totals could exceed 6 inches locally. Severe thunderstorms are possible across the northern Texas Panhandle and northern Oklahoma. The showers and thunderstorms will move from the lower Mississippi Valley through the Southeast on Sunday and Monday.
West:
A slow moving winter storm will bring more snow and rain to eastern Wyoming, Colorado, and northernmost New Mexico ending later today. The Front Range and Laramie Mountins could see several feet of snow with Denver forecast to see 5 to 10 inches. Northeast Colorado will see prolonged cold heavy rain totaling several inches. The remainder of the region will remain dry with warming temperatures as the week progresses. Interior northern California and parts of the northwest will begin to see record high temperatures by next week.
Northeast:
A cold front and weak disturbance moving out of Canada will bring showers across upstate New York and New England. By Sunday the showers will move into the mid-Atlantic. Lingering morning showers could be mixed with wet snow in upstate New York and central New England.  (National Weather Service, Various media Sources)

Region IV Flooding, Tornadoes and Severe Weather

  • RRCC at Watch/Steady State, on-call for weekend
  • ERT-A deployed to FL EOC
  • FEMA LNOs deployed to GA EOC and FL EOC
  • FEMA SA elements supporting FL DEM flood surveys

Florida (Severe Storms and Flooding beginning March 26):

  • State EOC Level II, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT
  • Governor requested a major disaster declaration on April 10
  • 3 confirmed fatalities (2-Okaloosa County; 1-Madison County) / 1 injury (State Responder)
  • Joint IA and PA PDAs ongoing
  • IA PDAs: 13 completed and 3 ongoing
  • PA PDAs: 15 completed and 3 ongoing
  • Essential Service Centers (ESCs) open in Hamilton and Madison Counties; evaluating the need in Suwannee
  • Voluntary evacuations remain in effect for low lying areas in 6 counties

Region V Severe Weather

  • RRCC activated at Level III, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. CDT
  • 1 FEMA Liaison officer deployed to the MN EOC will re-deploy to the JFO today
  • IMAT transitioning back to Region and is scheduled to be fully redeployed by today

Minnesota:

  • State EOC is on-call for the weekend; will return Apr 20, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. CDT
  • Region V Logistics Incident Staging Base (ISB) in Dilworth, MN 
  • 2 Disaster Recovery Centers are open; 1 fixed DRC in Moorhead, MN and 1 MDRC in Breckenridge, MN
  • PA PDAs are ongoing in 10 counties and one tribal community

Red River Flood Preparations

Region VIII:

  • RRCC activated at Level III, on-call for the weekend; return Apr 20, 6:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. MDT

North Dakota:

  • State EOC activated at Level I, 24/7
  • 2 fatalities / 223 injuries
  • 2 shelters /  6 occupants
  • Voluntary evacuation of 62 people from city of Kathryn, ND (Barnes County); cause of flooding is the erosion of the Clausen Springs Dam which feeds into tributaries of the Sheyenne River
    • USACE is onsite and assessing the impacts of overtopping and in the event of a complete failure of the dam
  • The city of Lisbon voluntarily evacuated 160 people due to a leaking flood control device along the Sheyenne River
  • At 12:01 a.m. Apr 17, the Sheyenne River at Valley City, ND was at 20.57 feet, but will not quickly recede due to reservoir releases from Baldhill Dam
    • Voluntary evacuation of 2,000 people living in Valley City, ND (total community population of 6,826)
    • Mayor of Valley City issued a voluntary evacuation for individuals who do not need to be in the city due to the city sanitary sewer system backing up; sewer discharge pipe crushed due to hydrostatic pressure from river
      • Also issued was a mandatory closure of non-essential businesses
      • 2 "vulnerable residents" being evacuated to ND State Hospital
  • 4 Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) open; 3 fixed DRCs and 1 Mobile DRC
  • Joint IA and PA PDAs ongoing

Volcano Activity:

Region IX - Pagan, Northern Mariana Islands

  • Color Code YELLOW, Alert Level ADVISORY
  • Low-level steaming continues
  • Steaming appears to be diminishing
  • WA Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) saw in satellite data a very faint plume extending  north-northwest from the volcano 45 nautical miles west from the volcano
  • The USGS does not currently have monitoring instruments installed on Pagan; monitoring is by satellite and ground observers

Region X - Mt Redoubt, Alaska

  • The volcano remains at Color Code ORANGE and Alert Level WATCH
  • Seismicity remains elevated and satellite images indicate that there may be small amounts of ash in the plume of steam and volcanic gas that continues to rise above the volcano.
  • FEMA representatives are at the FEMA Region X AK Area Office in Anchorage
  • AK SECC remains at Level YELLOW: Elevated

Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

No 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
National Preparedness (as of April 17)

  • Level: 1 (Minimal Activity)
  • States affected:  TX and NM 
  • Initial attack activity:  Light (190 new fires)
  • New Large Fires:  0
  • Large Fires Contained:  1
  • Uncontained Large Fires: 2 (National Interagency Fire Center)

Disaster Declaration Activity

The Governor has requested a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of Texas as a result of Wildland Fires beginning April 7, 2009 and continuing for the counties of Callahan, Clay, Jack, Montague, Wichita and Young.  Specifically requested is Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, all approved Fire Management Assistance Grants under this Major Declaration, Direct Federal Assistance and Hazard Mitigation  (FEMA HQ)

Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 16:25:38 EDT