As Barry intensified into a hurricane on its three-day trek along the Gulf Coast, the storm moved at an excruciatingly slow pace – between three and nine miles per hour. The very slow motion allowed Barry to generate a larger storm surge and dump heavier rains than a faster-moving storm would have (most of those rains happened to fall offshore this time because of Barry's unusual structure).
Areas affected over the last few days by Barry, which at its height reached hurricane status, were largely spared significant impacts due to the system depositing less rain and resulting in less flooding than originally predicted. With the storm gone, what’s the outlook for the near future? Not much, according to forecasters at AccuWeather. Each year, from around July 1 to mid-August, coastal states get a short window to catch their breaths as tropical activity goes into a quiet period.
July 15, 2019
Last week, Ridgecrest, California was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5, which followed a 6.4-magnitude foreshock on July 4. In reports following these events, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) noted there were “no significant impacts” to water and wastewater systems.
EPA has released an expanded version of its Power Resilience Guide, a tool which enables utilities to identify strategies to mitigate the effects of power outages on operations. This new guide replaces the original version, first released in March 2016, but still includes the original’s seven emphasis areas: Communication, Power Assessments, Generators, Fuel, Energy Efficiency, On-Site Power, and Funding.
During a daylong active shooter preparedness workshop in Washington, DC last week, members of the private sector met with representatives of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the law enforcement community to discuss the active shooter threat and take concrete steps to develop planning documents for the organizations.
WaterISAC staff attended the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council’s EIS Summit on June 24-25 in Washington, DC. During the event, which focused on planning for widespread, long-duration power outages, WaterISAC heard panels from a cross-sector slate of international experts in logistics, preparedness, and emergency response. Staff also had the opportunity to directly interact with representatives from federal partner agencies, water utilities, and individuals representing other interdependent sectors.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced its flagship weather model – the Global Forecast System (GFS) – has been significantly upgraded, allowing for improved forecasts of severe weather, winter storms, and tropical cyclone intensity and track. The new GFS brings together the superior dynamics of global climate modeling with day-to-day reliability and speed of operational numerical weather prediction. Additional enhancements to the science that produce rain and snow in the GFS also contribute to the improved forecasting capability of this upgrade.
FEMA has published the New Recipients of Disaster Grants Guide, a centralized resource document providing state, local, tribal, and territorial governments with information on the essentials of Public Assistance (PA), Individual Assistance (IA), and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The guide combines pre-disaster preparation recommendations, program requirements, associated deadlines, and other information from all three grant programs. The guide also outlines the critical statutory, policy and procedural requirements for recipients of FEMA disaster assistance grants.
FEMA has posted a video recording of a PrepTalk by Claudine Jaenichen on the cognitive biases that impede one’s ability to make the right decision when confronted with an emergency. Authorities can help people make better decisions through carefully crafted messages, as she demonstrates with evacuation maps she designed to help people recall safe routes when confronted with an evacuation order.
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