Tuesday, May 18, 2010
 

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED)

Significant National Weather

South
Widespread shower and thunderstorm activity Monday night could produce localized flooding and flash flooding across western North Carolina and Virginia, southern West Virginia and southeast Kentucky. Scattered thunderstorms are possible across southern North Carolina, all of South Carolina, southeastern Georgia and eastern Tennessee. Small hail and some gusty winds are also possible.
MidwestÂ*
Showers and thunderstorms will develop over portions of the southern Ohio Valley into the southern Mid-Atlantic through the morning, spreading into the northern Ohio Valley and the northern Mid-Atlantic through the day. The steadiest and heaviest rain should fall from the southern Great Lakes into the Ohio Valley where rainfall could approach an inch through tonight. Light rain will continue over portions of the Ohio Valley through Wednesday.Â*
Northeast
A storm over the southern Ohio Valley will move northeastward to the southern New England coast by Wednesday, generating rain from Pennsylvania southeast to southern New Jersey and southward across the Mid-Atlantic.
WestÂ*
A storm over the interior West Coast will move inland to the Southern High Plains and Southern Rockies by Wednesday, bringing rain and thunderstorms to the West Coast and eastward to the Intermountain West, where snow is possible at the higher elevations. Moisture flowing northward out of the western Gulf of Mexico will produce showers and thunderstorms over portions of the lower Rio Grande valley into parts of the Southern High Plains and Southern Rockies today.Â* Southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, western Texas and eastern New Mexico could experience severe thunderstorms, producing large hail, damaging wind gusts and heavy rainfall.Â*Â*(NOAAâs National Weather Service, The Hydro Meteorological Prediction Center and media sources)Â*
Severe Weather: Recovery Mississippi Valley/Southeast Update:

Thunderstorms are possible in eastern portions of Kentucky today. Minor flooding is expected to continue along portions of the Green River for the next 24 hours. No hazardous weather is expected in Tennessee; however, a new storm system will move across the Central U.S. on Thursday, delivering locally heavy rain, gusty winds and a possibility of lightning to the region.
The Joint Field Offices in Mississippi and Tennessee are now operational. The Kentucky recovery continues to be managed from the Interim Operating Facility as their offices near completion. Preliminary Damage Assessments continue around the region.Â*Â*
Â*(FEMA HQ, Region IV)Â*
Mississippi Canyon 252 Update:

FEMA Actions
The lead federal agencies responding to the incident are the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Interior. FEMA is providing the U.S. Coast Guard with radios for communications support for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
A Riser Insertion Tube Tool (RITT) is in place recovering an oil and gas mixture with less than 1% water. It is siphoning off approximately 1,000 barrels per day (about one fifth of the 5,000 barrels BP estimates to be escaping per day). Siphoned oil is being stored on board the Discoverer Enterprise drill ship, with the capability to separate the oil, gas and water mixture, burn off the gas, and eventually store or offload the recovered oil onto another vessel. Containment/sorbent booms, surface/subsurface disbursements and skimming operations have resulted in the recovery of 6.6 million gallons of oily water mixture to date. No In Situ operations were conducted in the last 24 hours due to adverse weather. Seventeen staging areas are in place to protect sensitive shorelines: Alabama (3), Florida (4), Louisiana (7) and Mississippi (3). All shipping channels and ports remain open. No large commercial vessels have required cleaning at decontamination stations. NOAA modified the Gulf of Mexico commercial and recreational fishing closure area on May 14, encompassing approximately 10 percent of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. On May 17, revisions to the federal closure in the exclusive economic zone allowed the reopening of some oyster harvesting areas in Terrebonne Parish, La.Â* Most of the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing.Â* (Deepwater Horizon JIC)Â*
Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

No activity.(FEMA HQ) Tropical Weather Outlook

No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Earthquake Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Wildfire Update

National Preparedness Level 1
National Fire Activity as of Monday, May 17, 2010: Initial attack activity was light with 56 new fires. There were no new large fires reported and no large fires were contained. There are currently two uncontained large fires affecting California and Florida.Â*Â*(NIFC)
Disaster Declaration Activity

Amendment #1 to FEMA-1912-DR-KY, effective May 17, amends the major disaster declaration to include nine additional counties for Individual Assistance and twenty-one counties for Public Assistance.Â* (FEMA HQ)Â*


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