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National Situation Update: Thursday, December 13, 2007

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Federal Response To The Midwest Ice Storm

Region V

• RRCC is activated and operating at Level III, from 7:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m., CST.
• Region V RRCC is maintaining continuous contact with State EOCs.
• Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) Teams have been identified and are on standby.
• Region is coordinating with LRC, concerning return or redistribution of the commodities that were received. (Region V, LMC, ACE)

Region VI

• RRCC activated and operating at Level III from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST.
• President signed Emergency Declaration 3280-EM for Oklahoma.  
• PDA teams are on standby.
• ESF 12 is activated, and a representative is scheduled to travel to the Oklahoma JFO on Friday, December 14, 2007.
• ESF 7 (General Services Administration) has been activated.
• NORTHCOM has activated the Region 6 Defense Coordinating Element (DCE), and they have provided representation in the RRCC. 
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ESF 3) has activated their Power Planning Response Team (PRT) and have deployed elements of the 249th Prime Power Battalion.
• The following commodities have deployed: 50-pk generator kits, cots, blankets, MREs.
• 3 Mobile Disaster Recovery enter (MRDC) (one departed Fort Worth LRC at 1:00 p.m. CST, December 12, 2007, with an ETA of 6:00 p.m. CST, December 12, 2007; remaining are going to State EOC and JFO).  (Region VI, OK DEM, NGB

Region VII

• RRCC has been activated to Level II from 6:00 a.m. through 12:00 a.m. CST.
• On December 12, 2007, the President signed Emergency Declaration FEMA-3281-EM for Missouri and 3282-EM for Kansas.
• FEMA Region VII has activated ESFs 3, 6, and 12.  FEMA Region VII is pre-staging the following assets in Kansas City, MO: Generators, water and MREs.
• Missouri anticipates requesting assistance with Public Assistance PDAs later this week.(Region VII, MO SEOC, NGB, ACE)

Significant National Weather

West:
A frontal system will bring scattered rain showers to western Washington and northwest Oregon.  In the Cascades, snow levels will drop as low as 1000 feet. East of the Cascades scattered snow showers are forecast for eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana and south into the Great Basin and northwest Colorado. High temperatures will range from the teens in northwest Wyoming to the 60s in along the border with Mexico.

Midwest:
A fast moving "clipper low" will produce gusty winds and light snow over the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. The primary danger is from blowing and drifting snow, reducing visibilities to near zero. Circulation on the backside of a low over Kentucky will bring a wintery rain-snow mix to the lower Great Lakes this morning with rain over Ohio Valley ending this evening. High temperatures will range from the teens in the far northern reaches of North Dakota to the 50s in southeast Kentucky.

South:
The cold front extending south from the low in Kentucky will push into the region ending record-breaking warmth and producing isolated showers over most of the Southeast and Gulf Coast. High temperatures will range from the 40s in Oklahoma to the 80's in Florida.

Northeast:
As the low moves up the coast five to 10 inches of snow will fall from southern New York and northern Pennsylvania through southern New England. Snowfall rates may be as much as an inch an hour.  Snow watches and warnings are up for much of the Region see http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ for the latest information. Southern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey will see a mix of snow, sleet and rain, with rain showers expected south of the Mason-Dixon Line. High temperatures will range from the single digits in northern Maine to the low 60s in southeast Virginia. (National Weather Service, Media Sources)

Region III Prepares For Ice Storm

A severe weather system is moving into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at sunrise today.  The weather service has called the event high impact occurring at the beginning of the morning commute.  Weather conditions will provide slick and dangerous driving conditions.

A second system will impact the same area from Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon.  The event will also impact the majority of the Commonwealth with I-80 and I-76 providing the boundaries between snow, sleet-snow and sleet-freezing rain. 
Areas north of I-80 will experience 6-8 inches of snow over a 6 to 8 hour period.  The area between I-80 and I-76 will see a combination of snow and sleet and south of I-76 should see a mixture of sleet, freezing rain and rain. 
The overall event will produce the equivalent of 1-inch of liquid water.  Depending on the actual combination of snow, sleet and freezing rain, power impacts may result from excessive ice build up.
Current Actions: Aggressively monitoring weather forecasts and models; closely coordinating activities with PEMA: Coordinating impacts with NWS. (Regions III)

Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

No new activity to report.  (FEMA HQ)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic/Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico:
Tropical Depression Olga is degenerating into a broad area of low pressure with a few squalls At 10:00 pm EST 12, December, 2007 Olga was located near latitude 18.9 north, longitude 77.6 west or about 80 miles northwest of Kingston Jamaica and about 665 southeast of Miami FL.

The depression has slowed down and is now moving toward the west near 13 mph this general motion is expected to continue during the next 24 to 36 hours. Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph with higher gusts confined to a few squalls north of the center.

The depression is expected to become a remnant low within the next 12 hours or so. This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on this system unless regeneration occurs.

Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific:
No activity.

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

Earthquake Activity

There was a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada 197 miles south of Metlakatla, AK on Wednesday, 12 December at 6:39 pm (EST) at a depth of 6.2 miles. No tsunami was generated and there were no reports of damage or injures.

There was a magnitude 6.2 earthquake just off the coast of Antofagasta, Chile at a depth of 36.5 miles on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 2:23 am (EST). No tsunami was generated and there were no reports of damage or injures. (USGS, Earthquake Hazards Program, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

• Iowa: Public assistance PDA's are scheduled to begin on Friday 14 December 2007.
• Joint PDAs on the island of Maui, Hawaii continue.
• PDAs in Oregon and Washington continue.  (HI Civil Defense, Region IX, Region X, Washington, Oregon)

Disaster Declaration Activity

Kansas:  FEMA-3282-EM was declared 12 December, 2007 for Severe Winter Storms 6 December 2007 and continuing. FEMA is authorized to provide debris removal and emergency protective measures (Categories A and B) limited to direct Federal assistance, under the Public Assistance program at 75 percent funding. The assistance is for all 105 Kansas counties. (FEMA HQ)