• Emergency Managers and Personnel
• Situation Reports
• National Incident Management System
• Grants & Assistance Programs
• Training
• Contacts
• Planning
• Best Practices

National Situation Update: Friday, September 12, 2008

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant National Weather

South:
Presently, Ike is a large-sized category 2 hurricane, and is forecast to make landfall early Saturday morning along the northeast Texas coast. On Saturday, a weakened Ike will move toward north-central or northeast Texas. By Saturday, the Southeast will be mainly dry, except for a few thunderstorms over parts of Tennessee and the Carolinas. More flooding rain is likely along Ike's path by Sunday, especially in eastern Oklahoma and the Ozarks. The rest of the Southeast is expected to be humid with scattered to isolated showers and thunderstorms. 
Midwest:
A cold front across the Great Lakes to the Central Plains will bring rain to the Great Lakes region this weekend. Heaviest rainfall will occur over the southern Great Lakes. There could be possible flash flooding in Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Missouri.
Northeast:
On Friday, a cold front from the west will bring showers and thunderstorms to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic will remain under the threat of showers throughout the weekend.
West:
Heavy showers and thunderstorms are forecast across southern Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and southeast Arizona. On Saturday, a cold front will create showers across northern Montana. (NOAA, National Weather Service, Various Media Sources)

Federal / State Recovery for Gustav

FEMA NRCC
The NRCC is activated at Level I with 24/7 operations in support of Hurricane Ike preparations, but is also supporting Gustav recovery activities.
FEMA Region VI
The RRCC is operating at Level I, providing 24/7 coverage with most ESFs activated in support of Ike and Gustav. The JFO in Baton Rouge is working with State officials to make 5 Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) sites operational in priority order and to transition 2 Mobile DRCs to fixed DRCs by today. Public Assistance (PA) PDAs are ongoing in four counties, and PA PDAs have been completed in 20 counties. PDAs for Individual Assistance (IA) in 14 counties have been completed. FEMA logistics is shipping meals, tarps, water, plastic sheeting, and cots to various locations in Louisiana. The JFO in Baton Rouge is working on the Blue Roof program with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The Blue Roof mission was granted for all 36 parishes in the disaster area. USACE has received over 1800 requests for Blue Roof missions, 84 have been completed as of September 11. All evacuees from Gustav have been returned to their home parishes, with the exception of approximately 300 special needs individuals whose return has been delayed until Hurricane Ike's impact can be properly assessed. As of Thursday morning, 81,523 Louisiana customers remain without power. Power has been fully restored in Mississippi. 16 shelters remain open in Louisiana with 1,071 occupants. There are 2 shelters open in Mississippi with 32 occupants.

Federal / State Preparations for Hurricane Ike

Region IV
The RRCC is operating at Level III and the regional IMAT remains in Houston, TX. Maxwell AFB, AL and Meridian Naval Air Station, MS stood up as National Logistics Staging Areas (NLSA). 
Florida
The State EOC is activated at Level II (partial activation). Pre-landfall Emergency Declaration was approved for Monroe County.
FEMA Region VI
The RRCC is operating at Level I, providing 24/7 coverage with all ESFs in place except 10 and 14. The National IMAT-East is deployed to San Antonio, Texas. Region VI IMAT is operational at the JFO in Austin, TX. The Region V IMAT is deployed to Alexandria, LA. 9 FEMA US&R teams are available in Houston, Texas. Denver MERS equipment and personnel are staged at NLSA, Ft. Sam Houston, TX.
Louisiana
The State EOC in Baton Rouge is operating at Level I (full activation). Emergency Declaration (FEMA3295-EM) for the State of Louisiana was signed on September 11, 2008. Seven Louisiana parishes are under mandatory evacuations with a total estimated population 732,745. 165 ambulances are being moved from Louisiana to support the Texas evacuation.
Texas
City officials have called for the mandatory evacuation of Galveston Island. Nine Texas counties are under mandatory evacuation with total estimated population of 993,487. Voluntary evacuations are in place for Calhoun (20,705), Jackson (14,249), Victoria (86,191), and the rest of Harris County. As of Friday morning, the State of Texas has evacuated 1,842 special needs to medical shelters.  55 School Districts will be closed September 11-12. Texas has a program to push fuel to stations and stranded motorists where evacuations are occurring. 600 buses have moved to Jefferson and Orange counties and Houston to stage for evacuations. Up to 7,500 Texas National Guard members are on stand-by. Hospitals in Galveston are either closed or have evacuated. HHS has deployed 11 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT), 7 medical strike teams, and has established 5 Federal Medical Stations (FMS) with the capacity of 250 beds each. There are 87 shelters open with 6,292 occupants. 21 shelters are operational in the San Antonio area. All offshore oil production crews have been evacuated and offshore oil production is offline.
Alabama
The State EOC in Clanton, AL is operating at Level IV. The FCO and FEMA Region VIII ERT-A team remain operational at the EOC.
Mississippi
The State EOC in Pearl, MS is operating at Level I (full activation). There is one shelter open with 5 occupants.

Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

Nothing significant to report. (FEMA HQ)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic/Caribbean: Hurricane Ike
At 5:00 a.m. EDT, the center of Hurricane Ike was located about 365 miles east of Corpus Christi Texas and about 265 miles southeast of Galveston Texas.
Ike is moving toward the west-northwest near 13 mph.  A turn toward the northwest is expected later today, with a turn toward the north expected on Saturday.  On the forecast track, the center of Ike will be very near the Upper Texas coast by late today or early Saturday. However, because Ike is a very large tropical cyclone, weather will deteriorate along the coastline today, long before the center reaches the coast.
Reports from an Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 105 mph with higher gusts.  Ike is a Category Two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.  Some additional strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours, and Ike is forecast to become a major hurricane before the center reaches the coast.
Ike remains a very large tropical cyclone.  Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 120 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 275 miles. The latest minimum central pressure is 953 mb.
Eastern Pacific: Tropical Depression Lowell 
As of 5:00 a.m. EDT, Tropical Depression Lowell has dissipated.
Western Pacific: 
No tropical cyclone activity is affecting United States territories. (NOAA, HPC,  National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

The USGS reports that a series of 4.5-4.8 magnitude earthquakes occurred on Thursday, September 11, 2008 between 5:17 p.m. and 7:26 p.m. EDT, 177-180 miles west of Neah Bay, Washington, at a depth of 6.2 miles. There were no reports of damage or injury and no tsunami was generated. (USGS/NEIC, Pacific, West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Centers)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Wildfire Update

National Fire Activity as of Thursday, September 11, 2008:
National Wildfire Preparedness Level: 2
Initial attack activity: Light (55)
New large fires: 1
Uncontained large fires: 8
Large fires contained: 0
States with large fires: CA, OR, NV, ID and CO

Disaster Declaration Activity

On  September 11, 2008, the President signed Emergency Declaration FEMA-3295-EM for the State of Louisiana for Hurricane Ike for the incident period September 7, 2008, and continuing. Specifically, the declaration authorizes FEMA to provide emergency protective measures (Category B) including direct Federal assistance under the Public Assistance program at 75 percent funding. This assistance is for Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, and Vermilion parishes. Additional designations may be made at a later date after further evaluation.

On September 11, 2008, FEMA-1786-DR-LA amendment # 4 approved to include Calcasieu Parish for Individual Assistance (already designated for emergency protective measures Category B), including direct Federal assistance under the Public Assistance program.

On September 11, 2008, FEMA-1785-DR-FL amendment # 9 approved to include Baker, Collier, Glades, Jefferson, Lake, Marion, and Nassau counties for Individual Assistance (already designated for Public Assistance), Orange and Polk counties for Individual Assistance and Manatee and Sarasota counties for Public Assistance program.

On September 12, 2008, FEMA-1785-DR-FL amendment #8 closes the incident period for this emergency effective September 12, 2008.

On September 11, 2008, FEMA-3294-EM-TX amendment # 1 approved to include 17 additional counties for emergency protective measures (Category B), including direct Federal assistance under the Public Assistance program. (FEMA HQ)