Tuesday, August 23, 2011

[FEMA]

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED)

Hurricane Irene

As of 5:00 a.m. EDT, Hurricane Irene was located about 105 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island and moving to the west-northwest at 12 mph. This general motion is expected to continue through today, followed by a turn toward the northwest tonight and tomorrow morning. On the forecast track, the core of Irene will pass to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti this morning, near or over the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by tonight, and be near the central Bahamas by early tomorrow.
Maximum sustained winds remain near 100 mph with higher gusts, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 205 miles. Irene is now a Category 2 Hurricane, and Irene could become a major hurricane later today or Wednesday.
Irene is expected to produce additional rainfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches across Puerto Rico. Rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches are expected over Northern Hispaniola, with isolated maximum amounts of up to 10 inches possible over higher terrain. These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides in areas of steep terrain.
Puerto Rico

• 5 shelters open with 145 occupants.
• 395,000 customers without power on PR as of 11:00 p.m. EDT, Aug 22.
• San Juan airport fully open, all other airports in Puerto Rico remain closed.
• Government employees expected to report for work today. Schools will remain closed until Wednesday, August 23.
• Communication systems largely unaffected, and back to normal.
• National Guard activated.
• The Port of San Juan is open to all vessel traffic. All other ports in PR remain closed

U.S. Virgin Islands

• All shelters closed as of 6:00 p.m. on August 22.
• Major power outages on St. Croix (exact numbers unknown â island population 110,000).
• Telephone service (voice) down on St. Croix but texting and data still operational.
• All airports are fully operational.
• Requesting sandbags from USACE (50,000 for St. Croix; 50,000 for St. Thomas).
• All ports in St. Thomas, Limetree Bay and Krause Lagoca in St. Croix are open to all vessel traffic. All other ports remain closed

Significant National Weather

Midwest:
A cold front will move through the Northern Plains Tuesday night bringing cooler temperatures and lower humidity from the Northern Plains into the Upper Mississippi Valley during the day on Wednesday. Showers and thunderstorms are expected from the Upper Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes. Cooler temperatures can be expected across the North Central U.S. on Wednesday.
East:
Pleasant conditions can be expected for most locations east of the Mississippi with high pressure dominating the pattern through Tuesday night. Showers and thunderstorms from the Upper Mississippi Valley will move into the Ohio Valley on Wednesday bringing increased humidity. Temperatures should remain seasonable across most of the Northeast.
South:
Scattered thunderstorms will be commonplace across the Deep South through mid week. The bulk of the widespread thunderstorms will be mainly off of the Southeast coast. Thunderstorms will extend from southeast North Carolina to Florida with a few thunderstorms along the northern Gulf Coast and from eastern Oklahoma to the lower Mississippi Valley. Temperatures will remain hot across the Southern Plains.
West:
Unsettled weather in the form of steady rain will remain across the Northwest near a cold front. The rain will end across the Northwest as the weather system moves inland late Tuesday
Another cold front is expected to reach the Pacific Northwest coast Wednesday night bringing some scattered areas of rain. Temperatures in the Desert Southwest could reach 120 degrees in some areas as extreme heat continues. (NOAA, NWS, Various media sources)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic / Caribbean / Gulf of Mexico
Area 1 (Invest 98L)
As of 2:00 a.m. EDT, a large low pressure system located about 750 miles west-northwest of the northernmost Cape Verde Islands was producing increased shower and thunderstorm activity as it moves west-northwestward at about 15 mph towards warmer waters. Some development is possible before upper-level winds increase in a couple of days. This system has a low (20%) chance of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours.
Elsewhere, tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 48 hours.
Eastern Pacific
Tropical Cyclone formation is not expected during the next 48 hours.
Central Pacific
No tropical cyclones are expected through Wednesday afternoon.
Western Pacific
No activity threatening U.S. territories.

Earthquake Activity

The USGS reports that a Magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurred on Tuesday, August 23, at 1:46 a.m. EDT approximately 9 miles west southwest of Trinidad, CO or 180 miles south of Denver, CO. The earthquake occurred near the Colorado/New Mexico border at a depth of 2.5 miles. Weak to moderate shaking was reported as far away as Denver and Bolder, CO.
There have been no reports of damage or injury. This earthquake occurred in the vicinity of the Sangre de Christo Fault and follows several smaller earthquakes that have occurred in the area during the past 24 hours.

Wildfire Update

Monday, August 22, 2011:
National Preparedness Level: 2
Initial attack activity: Moderate (260 new fires)
New Large Fires: 8
Large Fires Contained: 6
Uncontained Large Fires: 17
Type 1 IMT Committed: 1
Type 2 IMT Committed: 1
States affected: ID, WY, UT, VA, TX, OK, WA, OR, NV, MT, NM, AZ, and CO.

Disaster Declaration Activity

Puerto Rico
Emergency Declaration FEMA-3326-EM-PR was declared on August 22, 2011 for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Irene that occurred August 21, 2011 and continuing. Emergency protective measures (Category B), limited to direct Federal assistance, for all 78 municipalities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, have been approved.
Missouri
Amendment No. 1 to FEMA-3325-EM closes the incident period effective August 1, 2011.
Iowa
Amendment No. 1 to FEMA-1998-DR adds 6 counties for Public Assistance [Categories C-G] (already designated for debris removal and emergency protective measures [Categories A and B], including direct Federal assistance).

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