NOAA photo of tornado damage to St. John's Mercy Hospital in Joplin

The heart of Joplin Missouri was, in many respects, St. John’s Mercy Hospital. The city’s residents were born there, healed there and often spent their final days there. On May 22, 2011, an F5 tornado tore its way through downtown Joplin and left the hospital in ruins. That ended an era but yesterday a new era was begun with the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Mercy Hospital Joplin.

NOAA photo of damage to St. John's Mercy Hospital in Joplin after the tornado.

The entire St. John’s campus will be leveled as the work begins on a new hospital on donated land at the intersection of I44 and Main Street. A farewell service was held in Joplin on Sunday for the old hospital and a groundbreaking ceremony for the new one.

St. John’s Mercy sits over abandoned lead mines that date to the mid 1800′s. Engineers were uncertain if a controlled demolition would be safe so the site will be cleared using conventional methods. During the six weeks of demolition, as much of the existing structure as possible will be salvaged. The buildings will be stripped of wiring and pipes that will go to the scrap yard. The concrete and asphalt will be ground up and used for fill on the site.

Science will also be served during the demolition. Some parts of the building will be sent to various labs for study of the effects of the tornado on the building and its components.

The hospital has donated about 12 acres of the old site to the Joplin schools. An elementary school will be built there to replace two schools destroyed by the tornado.

At the new site, an innovative project is rescuing about 400 trees from the bulldozers. The site was scoured by certified arborists for the best saplings. They were tagged and have been transplanted to a local nursery where they will be cared for. In 2014, in preparation for the opening of the new Mercy Hospital Joplin, they will be replanted as part of the final landscaping. The trees selected are the ones best suited for Joplin’s climate and soil.

The FEMA blog describes the recovery efforts in Joplin.

• 1.2 million cubic yards of debris removed
• 3,600 building permits issued
• 167 temporary classrooms and 67 temporary safe rooms
• 337 families in temporary housing
• 50 percent of the homes destroyed are being rebuilt
• 90 percent of the businesses damaged have reopened

The National Weather Service has released a report titled Joplin, Missouri, Tornado – May 22, 2011.

The tornado was rated EF-5 on the Enhanced-Fujita Scale, with its maximum winds estimated at more than 200 mph. The path of the entire tornado was 22.1 miles long and was up to 1 mile in width. The EF-4/EF-5 damage path was roughly 6 miles long from near Schifferdecker Avenue along the western portions of Joplin to near Interstate 44 east of Joplin, and generally ½ to ¾ of a mile wide along the path. NOAA map.

An aerial view of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort, shows the devastation of the 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12, 2010. Approximately 230,000 Haitians are reported to have died as a result of the earthquake. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Chelsea Kennedy. Click for a larger image.

January 12, 2010: The United Nations reports

The earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January 2010 affected almost 3.5 million people, including the entire population of 2.8 million people living in Port-au-Prince. The Government of Haiti estimates that the earthquake killed 222,570 and injured another 300,572 people. Displacement peaked at close to 2.3 million people, including 302,000 children. At least 188,383 houses were badly damaged and 105,000 were destroyed by the earthquake. Sixty per cent of Government and administrative buildings, 80 per cent of schools in Port-au-Prince and 60 per cent of schools in the South and West Departments were destroyed or damaged. Total earthquake-related loss is estimated at $7.8 billion, equivalent to more than 120 per cent of Haiti’s 2009 gross domestic product.

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jay Wamsley holds a Haitian toddler during a humanitarian visit to one of many small villages outside Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 2, 2010. Wamsley, an environmental health and safety officer, is temporarily assigned to Port Security Unit 307. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Adam Eggers.

In October 2010, cases of cholera began to appear in Haiti. The illness had not been seen for generations and it spread rapidly. As of December 26, 2011, the Haitian Ministry of Health reports 522,946 cases of cholera since then, and a total of at least 7,011 deaths.

The situation two years after the earthquake remains grim. Over 500,000 Haitians remain in nearly 1,000 refugee camps. The deaths and illnesses from cholera continue, though improvements in sanitation and availability of treatment have cut the death rate nearly in half.

The World Food Program states

Haiti is a food deficit country. It relies heavily on imported food – 50 percent of national requirements are imported. Food prices have been rising since the end of 2010. In a country where approximately half of the population lives with less than $1 a day and three quarters have less than $2 per day, this increase has led to an overall loss of purchasing power for the majority of Haitians. WFP is using its three main programmes – school meals, nutrition and cash and food for work- to alleviate the impact of rising food prices on the most vulnerable.

Still, for the first time in 25 years, the Haitian government has all three branches functioning. The Caracol Industrial Park will open in March and its first tenant, Korean textile firm Sae-A, has committed to creating 20,000 new jobs. About half of the rubble created by the earthquake has been removed with 30-40 percent having been recycled into new construction. Much of the remaining “rubble” consists of buildings that have been condemned but the owners believe they can be salvaged.

U.S. Southern Command has conveyed a supply of disaster response equipment to the Haitian government. The United States has donated 12 boats, four sport utility vehicles, and 11,000 hand-crank radios to Haiti’s Direction de la Protection Civile (DPC).

In a study released just before Christmas, researchers estimate that 14,000 Americans died due to the effects of radioactive materials released by the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in March 2011. Joseph J. Mangano and Janette D. Sherman authored the paper which was published in the December 2011 International Journal of Health Services. The paper is titled “An Unexpected Mortality Increase in the United States Follows Arrival of the Radioactive Plume from Fukushima: Is There a Correlation?”. The full paper can be found at this link at radiation.org.

The researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The MMWR includes data from 122 U.S. cities reporting deaths for the week. The numbers of deaths for each city are broken down by age group, and the deaths related to pneumonia and influenza are also broken out. All data is preliminary and it takes nearly two years for the CDC to finalize the numbers. This report does not specify the cause of death.

The authors used the data from the MMWR reports for weeks 12 to 25, March 20 to June 25, 2011. That data was compared to the same period in 2010, as well as the fourteen weeks prior.

We took a look at infant deaths, children under 12 months of age. The study reports that infant deaths in the 122 cities rose by 1.8 percent year over year. Year over year for the prior fourteen week period, they declined 8.37 percent. They calculate that 822 infant deaths during the fourteen week study period were “excess”.

Recall that we used the term “preliminary” to refer to this data. We used the CDC’s database to search for the same data for the entire country for the study period. We found that our fourteen week total for infant deaths for 2011 agrees with the study, 2,743 deaths. However, the total for 2010 differs, and alters their analysis. They report 2,722 infant deaths for the period in 2010, while the current CDC count is 2,754. infant deaths went down year over year, not up by 1.8 percent.

Infant mortality in the United States. CDC data as of January 2, 2012. Click on the image for a larger view. Chart by Charles Simmins

Infant mortality in the United States. CDC data as of January 2, 2012. Click on the image for a larger view. Chart by Charles Simmins

Infant mortality in the United States. CDC data as of January 2, 2012. Click on the image for a larger view. Chart by Charles Simmins

Looking at the prior fourteen weeks’ data, MMWR weeks 50-11, the difference is even more striking. In the 2009-2010 period, infant deaths from our CDC data set equal 2,859. For the fourteen weeks prior to the study period, our 2010-2011 infant death total is 2,608. Infant deaths fell far more than the study states.

Among the weaknesses in this study are the failure to correct for pneumonia and influenza deaths. We included 2009 in our data. Weekly infant mortality totals for 2009 in the study period are much higher than for either 2010 or 2011. The novel H1N1 pandemic was affecting mortality in the United States. The flu is a key factor in mortality during the same time periods that the study examined.

The cities represent about 25 percent of the national population. Other questionable assumptions are that any effects from radioactive fallout would be evening distributed throughout the 122 cities in the data and that the effects in the cities would be equal to those in the rest of the nation.

The population rank tables provided in the study, tables four and five, demonstrate mortality variances that do not correlate with geography. One would expect West Coast cities to have a higher exposure to any Fukushima fallout, and thus demonstrate higher mortality rates. Houston leads with respect to an increase in mortality in both tables, not Los Angeles or San Diego.

We believe that the study’s authors have not proven their thesis. The current data refutes part of their analysis with respect to infant mortality. The authors use of just one prior year fails a commonsense test that you need more than two data points to establish a trend. They authors have not corrected the data with respect to the actual geographic distribution of fallout, nor did they make any attempt to correct for the effects of seasonal influenza or other variables such as violent deaths. Without a cause of death, any “excess deaths” which may be found cannot be related to Fukushima radiation and fallout.

At this point, if excess deaths exist, it is just coincidental that measurable amounts of radioactive byproducts from the Fukushima nuclear accident were found in the U.S. during the same time period.

USGS shake map for the first Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake

Three large earthquakes have rocked the Christchurch, New Zealand region. The first, currently listed as a magnitude 5.8 by the US Geological Survey, struck at 1:58 pm local time. It was followed by a shock measuring magnitude 5.3 at 2:06 pm. A third earthquake of magnitude 5.8 occurred on the south Island of New Zealand while this report was being prepared. (Third quake may be an error by USGS.)

The New Zealand region was devastated by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake on February 21, 2011. That quake all but wiped out the central business district of Christchurch, resulting in dozens of deaths and millions in property damage.

The local Christchurch Emergency Operations Center has been activated. Initial reports are that rockfalls and some liquefaction has occurred. The local airport and the central business district (CBD) are closed. No deaths and only very minor injuries are being reported at this time. There is no tsunami threat.

Sam Law was in the Riccarton mall. His tweets from the earthquake:

Wow large aftershock. The mall is terrifying.
Standing in Stevens while glasses and plates break and people scream and run. My hands are shaking but I’m ok.
Normally people are fairly calm but this time upstairs in Riccarton mall was pandemonium. People dropping things to run to the escalators.
I assume people freaked out because we haven’t had a good shake in a while, and there were so many people in the mall.

News from Twitter:

• @3NewsBreaking
• @nzherald
• @Project7NZ_eqnz

A Japanese home is seen adrift in the Pacific Ocean. Ships and aircraft from the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are searching for survivors in the coastal waters near Sendai, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord

One of the most iconic photos to appear after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan was that of a house, floating alone in the sea. The U.S. Navy photo illustrates the nature of the tsunami, which not only damaged buildings ashore but swept debris from the shore out to sea. Estimates vary on the amount of debris but KITV-4 in Hawaii quotes experts as saying it may range from five to twenty million tons.

An aerial view of debris from an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck northern Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord

A Russian sail training ship, the STS Pallada, ran in to the debris field about 700 miles northwest of Midway atoll in September. Researchers at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), University of Hawaii at Manoa modeling the anticipated movement of the mass of debris were startled since the field has moved east much faster than expected. Under the direction of Nikolai Maximenko, senior researcher on the project, new estimates are being produced that project the arrival of tsunami debris at various locations in the Pacific.

Jan Hafner, from the IPRC, reports in an e-mail, that the debris should begin to reach the Midway atoll in January 2012. Hawaii should see the debris washing ashore from December 2012 onward. The U.S. Pacific West Coast should begin to see the debris in late 2013 and early 2014.

The Russians report seeing much more than just wood and plastic floating in the debris field. They recovered a small fishing vessel, and have seen televisions, refrigerators, boots and even a drum. They encountered the floating objects for hundreds of miles as they sailed towards Vladivostok. Their Geiger counter revealed no radiation threat from the material that they saw.

Midway is home to the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, which was heavily damaged by the tsunami that generated the debris. Miriam Goldstein, a doctoral student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, writes on the site Deep Sea News that Hawaii will see two hits from the debris field. The currents will carry the debris west to east through the islands and then after reaching the U.S. West Coast, carry them back east to west.

The debris will impact both Midway and the Hawaiian islands but the extent is presently unknown. It is not known what preparations public authorities are making. Attempts to reach the Governor of Hawaii’s office, the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor and the National Wildlife Service’s Midway office have been unsuccessful at this time.

With only the observations of the Russian ship, the IPRC is eager to receive additional reports and GPS data. They are interested in the following data:

GPS location, time and description of the debris, state of the sea and weather

Photos would also be appreciated. Jan Hafner would like any reports sent to him at jhafner@hawaii.edu .

Vermont and Ihio National Guard Engineers work to repair a bridge washed out by Tropical Storm Irene floodwaters on Vt. Rte 113 in Cavendish, Vt. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrea Sheeran

The mission: Rebuild a road that is now a 65-foot-deep, 141-foot-long hole in a hillside in the town of Cavendish.

The call went out from the Vermont National Guard for heavy equipment and personnel and among other states, Ohio answered. In less than two days, Joint Task Force Tipper, which consists of the 1192nd and 1191st Engineer Companies, 200th RED HORSE Squadron, and Force Support Company and Headquarters and Headquarters Company from the 216th Engineer Battalion, arrived with 33 vehicles and 84 Guardsmen.

The 131st Engineer Company of the Vermont National Guard and JTF Tipper are working from dawn to dusk in Cavendish to complete this mission. With the Green Mountain Boys getting the project started and working out the engineering and the Ohio National Guard bringing in 20, 20-ton dump trucks and 3, 10-ton dump trucks the coordination has worked seamlessly.

Vermont and Ihio National Guard Engineers work to repair a bridge washed out by Tropical Storm Irene floodwaters on Vt. Rte 113 in Cavendish, Vt. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrea Sheeran

“Vermont was ready for us and accepted us. As soon as we got here, they had everything set up and ready to go. They have treated us like one of their own,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Sutter, the Project OIC.

With the JTF Tipper equipment and personnel in state, Capt. Annaliese Baumer, Commander of the 131st Engineer Company, discussed the scope of the project explaining that it will take 3,500 20-ton dump trucks loads back and forth from the quarries to the jobsite. The project will require so much material, the quarries had to blast to fill the need of 70,000 tons of material.

The main concern for Capt. Tanner Dunlap, JTF Tipper Commander, is time.

“We estimate this project will take six weeks but our orders don’t extend that long. Our job is to support the Vermont National Guard and we will get done as much as we can while we are here,” says Dunlap.

This will prove to be a difficult task as one roundtrip to get material takes two hours. The quarries where the material is coming from are difficult to get to as the roads that would go directly to them, have been washed out. JTF Tipper is forced to find and what once was a 30-minute trip is now a 60-minute trip one way.

Vermont and Ihio National Guard Engineers work to repair a bridge washed out by Tropical Storm Irene floodwaters on Vt. Rte 113 in Cavendish, Vt. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrea Sheeran

Dunlap expressed that the safety of his troops on site is also a main concern. There is a lot of material they have to bring in and there are also site hazards that are of concern. The hill on the other side of the jobsite looks like it may give away and create a landslide. Dunlap says that they will do what they can on the project they were brought in to help with and if any issues come up while they are working they will have to address them at that point. Playing the “what if” scenarios, Dunlap says, is never ending. For now, JTF Tipper will focus on the mission at hand and adjust if they need to.

The engineers of the 131st are integrating all of the support seamlessly into their fold. And it is a good thing. The project is massive and without the heavy trucks and operators from Ohio that are running 12 hours per day, the 131st would not be this far in the schedule.

The 131st is split between Dover and Cavendish with both working on Route 131. It is the magnitude of projects across the state that has brought welcomed support from Ohio. The multi-state mission being led by JTF Green Mountain Spirit continues and many National Guardsmen are working diligently to ensure reliable access to towns and residents across the State.

by 1st Lt Dyana K. Allen
DVIDS

Tech. Sgt. Kelli Sweeney is interviewed by local media before deploying as part of Task Force Irene on Saturday, August 27. Air Force Photo/SMSgt Ray Lloyd

Tech. Sgt. Kelli Sweeney, member of the 107th Airlift Wing Security Forces, was on her way home after working at the base on Friday, August 26. She was almost to her home in Middleburgh, NY, nearly 300 miles away, when she got the call from the 107th saying they needed all available personnel to report. Hurricane Irene was headed for downstate New York and anyone who could volunteer would be appreciated. She agreed to help out and stopped at her house to gather her gear. There were concerns that Middleburgh would have some flooding, so she made some minor preparations.

“I picked up anything near the floor and put it up higher. I thought maybe we’d get a few inches of flood water, so I wasn’t too concerned,” she said.

With that, she packed up her gear and headed back to Niagara Falls where she and 44 other members of the 107th Airlift Wing processed and boarded the unit’s C-130 in the early morning hours of Saturday, August 27. They proceeded to Camp Smith near Albany, NY the base from which they would work throughout the hurricane response.

They assisted the citizens of Sloatsburg, NY. They brought aid in the form of supplies, water and ice. They also used their Humvees to transport people through the flooded area.

Meanwhile, back at Tech. Sgt. Sweeney’s home, Middleburgh was hit hard by Irene, which by that time had been downgraded to a tropical storm. Flooding rains made rivers rise to record levels and knocked out power. Complicating issues, a petroleum spill leaked fuel into the water soaking homes in the foul-smelling water.

Monday morning Tech. Sgt. Sweeney received a call from her landlord with some bad news. Unfortunately, her home was one of those affected by the severe flooding. It was not only flooded by the petroleum-contaminated water but it was swept off of its foundation and displaced about 40 feet from its original location.

Although it was offered, Tech. Sgt. Sweeney did not rush home to attend to her own affairs. She stayed the course and continued to help in the relief efforts.

“There was not much I could do at home. I may as well have been helping out,” she said.

Senior Airman Michael Maio worked with her through the hurricane response. “She stayed positive through it all. Absolutely,” he said.

Upon returning to Niagara, Master Sgt. Jason Folckemer, Master Sgt. Michael Owczarczak, and Staff Sgt. Shawn Hare drove with Sgt. Sweeney to survey the damage and to see what could be saved.

Nearly all of Tech. Sgt. Sweeney’s belongings were destroyed. Only a few wooden furniture items could be salvaged.

Governor Andrew Cuomo declared the Catskill Mountains region a disaster area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse Tech. Sgt. Sweeney only for what they deem to be ‘essential items.’ She has found a new apartment to live in as she attends college in nearby SUNY Cobleskill, majoring in wildlife biology.

The 107th Airlift Wing family has responded to Tech. Sgt. Sweeney’s needs. Security Forces Squadron was able to give her money to use immediately from their flight fund. Contributions were also given by individual security forces members. In addition, they helped her by purchasing items that she needed like a microwave, dishes, and silverware.

Family Readiness Group and Security Forces applied for two grants in her name, one federal grant and one from the National Guard and Naval Militia Relief Society of New York, Inc. The wing plans to provide additional assistance to alleviate her hardship.

by Elaine J. Nowak
107th Airlift Wing
New York Air National Guard

There is no good way to create an RSS feed for those articles that I write for Yahoo! News. This link pulls most of them up, but they cannot be sorted by date. Curiously, Google seems to do a better job indexing these pieces than Yahoo.

In any event, here is some of the news reports I’ve written recently.

• The Famine Crisis in Somalia
• Is Weiner’s Congressional Seat Up for Grabs?
• Is America’s Military Body Armor Defective?
• Navy Goes Green
• Biofuel a Navy Priority
• Hurricane Irene: Military, Coast Guard Prepare
• Hurricane Irene: Flood Threat in Upstate New York
• Radiation Still a Concern at Fukushima
• Moving Out of Iraq Underway
• Historic Earthquake in D.C. Results in Historic Senate Session

Hurricane Irene blows across the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise as the ship is moored at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Enterprise is undergoing a planned post deployment maintenance period, preventing her from getting underway prior to the storms arrival. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael L. Croft

Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), weathered Hurricane Irene Aug. 28, armed with only a skeleton crew and robust safety information.

While many Navy ships homeported in Norfolk got underway to avoid the storm, Enterprise was moved to Norfolk Naval Shipyard because the location was deemed safer for ships unable to get underway.

“The amount of planning that came together in such a short period of time and the flawless execution of our plan by our crew was amazing,” said Senior Chief Logistics Specialist (SW/AW/SCW) Don Jones, the senior enlisted section leader during the storm. “Communication was key during the entire process.”

The same capabilities that have made Enterprise an effective warship through more than 21 deployments throughout the past 50 years helped the ship weather the hurricane. Sailors on board cite effective communication as their best weapon.

“We kept in communication with the base and the other ships around us, but also kept communication lines open for our Sailors so they could stay in touch with loved ones,” said Jones.

Throughout the storm, the ship stayed one step ahead of emergent issues by routing communications through satellites instead of relying on ground-based infrastructure. This advantage, along with the fact that the ship is designed to endure rough weather, made being on board relatively safe compared to being in a building ashore, especially at the waterline.

During the storm, Enterprise kept two teams of Sailors, called duty sections, on board in order to repair any leaks or damage. While aircraft carriers are designed to sustain heavy winds and rain, they usually do so under their own power at sea.

“Keeping two duty sections on board was extremely helpful,” said Intelligence Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) John M. Vercelli.

“It takes a lot of work to keep a ship safe during a hurricane, and I’m glad that so many Sailors stepped up and did their duty without complaint,” said Vercelli.

Enterprise also opened her doors for its temporary neighbor – aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). More than 300 Harry S. Truman Sailors had the option to stay aboard Enterprise because their ship’s extended shipyard maintenance availability doesn’t allow for overnight stays.

“We wanted to help our shipmates as much as possible,” said Lt. Melissa E. Johnson, from Enterprise’s Operations Department, who was on board keeping the crew informed about the status of the storm. “Since we had minimal crew on board, it was easy for us to make room.”

The aircraft carrier is undergoing post-deployment maintenance and did not have full use of its propulsion systems when the storm began bearing down on the Hampton Roads area. Navy commanders decided to move the ship from its homeport at Naval Station Norfolk to the more insulated Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

“I had never been through a hurricane before, and I was glad that I felt so safe here on Enterprise,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) 3rd Class Jacob R. Blackmore, from Indiana.

Blackmore stayed on the ship throughout the long hours during the storm.

“We don’t have hurricanes in the Midwest, and I didn’t really know what to expect, but being on this ship was the best option for me because Big ‘E’ is a tough ship,” said Blackmore. “I barely felt the storm!”

Blackmore said that the storm preparations made all the difference.

“If I can take anything away from this experience it’s that you should always prepare early for storms. That’s how the ship managed to weather the storm unscathed, we as a crew began preparing as early as we could, and that’s the best plan,” said Blackmore.

Enterprise recently returned from its 21st deployment, where it served in the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility, conducting missions from counter-piracy and counter-terrorism to more than 1,450 combat missions in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn.

Enterprise will celebrate its 50th birthday Nov. 25 and kick-off a yearlong tribute to its 50 years of service before her scheduled decommissioning next fall.

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nick C. Scott
USS Enterprise Public Affairs
US Navy

New Jersey National Guard troops assist in a neighborhood flooded by Hurricane Irene. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen

As Hurricane Irene slowly moves into Canada, the damage it leaves behind is immense. For Americans affected by the wind, water and other effects of this record storm, here are some resources. Some websites are of more value than others. As of this writing, only Puerto Rico has received a “Major Disaster Declaration”. The list of “Emergency Declarations”, a lower level of declaration, is at the bottom of this post.

National

• DisasterAssistance.gov
• Ready.gov
• Federal Emergency Management Agency – Flood
• Centers for Disease Control – Floods

State

• South Carolina
• North Carolina
• Virginia
• Maryland
• Delaware
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• New York
• Vermont
• Connecticut
• Rhode Island
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• Maine

Local

• Washington DC
• New York City
• Boston

Of Note

• Catholic Charities
• Salvation Army
• American Red Cross

Federal Emergency Declarations Related to Hurricane Irene

Number	Date	State	Incident Description	Designated Counties
3337	08/28	District of Columbia	Hurricane Irene
3336	08/28	Delaware	Hurricane Irene
3335	08/27	Maryland	Hurricane Irene
3334	08/27	Rhode Island	Hurricane Irene
3333	08/27	New Hampshire	Hurricane Irene
3332	08/27	New Jersey	Hurricane Irene
3331	08/27	Connecticut	Hurricane Irene
3330	08/26	Massachusetts	Hurricane Irene
3329	08/26	Virginia	Hurricane Irene
3328	08/26	New York	Hurricane Irene
3327	08/25	North Carolina	Hurricane Irene
3326	08/22	Puerto Rico	Hurricane Irene

The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp departs Naval Station Norfolk ahead of Hurricane Irene. Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway, commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, ordered all ships in the Hampton Roads area to set Sortie Condition Alpha. Ships in the area are departing early Thursday morning, Aug. 25. Irene's current track indicates it will pass off the North Carolina and Virginia coasts late Saturday as a Category 3 hurricane. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric S. Garst

Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet today ordered all U.S. Navy ships in the Hampton Roads, Va., area to get underway in preparation for Hurricane Irene.

Twenty-seven ships got underway today, nine ships were already at sea, and 28 ships will be taken to safe havens. Ships went to safe haven for various reasons, such as being in a particular maintenance status that does not allow the ship to get underway. Safe havens are predesignated piers that offer better protection against weather than a general pier.For the ships that did sortie, it should take them until approximately 1 p.m. Eastern time, Aug. 27, to clear the path of Irene.

Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway, commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet, said that the decision to sortie the ships from Hampton Roads is based on Hurricane Irene’s current track that indicates the storm will produce at least 50 knots of wind and a five to seven foot storm surge, which meets the critiera for getting the fleet underway to avoid storm damage.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin and the guided-missile frigate USS Nicholas depart Naval Station Norfolk ahead of Hurricane Irene. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric S. Garst

“Our ships can better weather storms of this magnitude when they are underway,” said Holloway. “The forecasted destructive winds and tidal surge is too great to keep the ships in port. There is a much greater potential of not only the ships being damaged, but also the pier infrastructure. Having the ships underway also makes them ready and available to respond to any national tasking, including any needed disaster response efforts in the local area after the storm has passed.”

Foul weather preparations start with Sortie Condition C, with ships prepared to get underway in 48 hours. At Sortie Condition B, ships must be prepared to get underway within 24 hours. Sortie Condition A indicates the execution of the sortie.

A variety of information is available in support of family readiness during hurricane season including:

• Navy Family Accountability and Assessment System provides a standardized method for the Navy to account, manage, and monitor the recovery process for personnel and their families affected and/or scattered by a wide-spread catastrophic event.

• State of Virginia Emergency Management has many resources for planning and preparing emergency kits, developing evacuation plans and addressing specific special needs for children, the elderly and others.

• Virginia Department of Transportation Hurricane Evacuation Guide rovides more detailed information for preparing for a hurricane, hurricane evacuation and public shelters in Virginia.

• Red Cross Hurricane Preparedness Guide provides general overview of tips and guidelines for hurricane preparedness.

• Prepare Hampton Roads website provides valuable tips for preparing for high winds, evacuation.

DVIDS

With the possibility of Hurricane Irene reaching category three and passing through or near the Bahamas, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center’s (NUWC) Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) on Andros Island took precautionary measures Aug. 23.

As part of the storm preparations, all non-essential personnel were evacuated that day. A total of 344 people were evacuated to West Palm Beach, Fla., using C-130 aircraft from Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VR) 53 and VR-62 as well as AUTEC’s own Beechcraft aircraft. The evacuation included personnel stationed at AUTEC, their families and pets. Sixty-one emergency response and security personnel will remain at the facility to sustain and restore services.

The Andros facility normally houses approximately 380 workers including 40 military and four government civilians.

Major equipment, including helicopters and range vessels were moved to safer locations on the Florida mainland or to naval facilities in Key West, Fla.

Current conditions and recent predictions put Hurricane Irene in the vicinity of Andros Island early Thursday morning, Aug. 25.

AUTEC is a field activity of NUWC Division Newport, R.I. and is supported from West Palm Beach, Fla. The mission of AUTEC is to support the full spectrum of undersea warfare by providing accurate three-dimensional tracking, performance measurement, and data collection resources to satisfy Research, Development, Test and Evaluation requirements, and for assessment of fleet training, tactical and material readiness. The AUTEC test facility on Andros Island covers approximately one square mile. The test range sea surface covers 2,670 square nautical miles.

NUWC Newport is one of two divisions of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. NUWC Newport’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures. NUWC’s other division is located in Keyport, Wash.

For more news from Naval Undersea Warfare Center, visit www.navy.mil/local/nuwc/.

The GOES-13 satellite saw Hurricane Irene entering the Bahamas on August 24, 2011 at 1302 UTC (9:02 a.m. EDT). Irene became a major hurricane shortly before this image and now has a clear, visible eye. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

The following links are to websites that provide information about Hurricane Irene, and hurricane preparedness in general. Please be patient with the loading times for some of the sites. They are experiencing high traffic volumes and their sites are s-l-o-w. A great site for a lay person’s take on Hurricane Irene is the Weather Nerd.

National

• National Hurricane Center
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• White House

State

• South Carolina
• North Carolina
• Virginia
• Maryland
• Delaware
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• New York
• Connecticut
• Rhode Island
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• Maine

Local

• Washington DC
• New York City
  With NYC gov sites running slow or not at all,
  the NT Times has posted the NYC evacuation map.
• Boston

Of Note

• Hurricane Central on the Weather Channel
• NASA Images from Space

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An earthquake currently being measured as 5.9 on the Richter Scale struck central Virginia at 1:51 pm EDT today. The epicenter was located 39 miles NW of Richmond, Virginia. The US Geological Survey report on the earthquake can be found at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/usc0005ild.php. The quake was felt from South Carolina to Binghamton, New York.

Current reports on Twitter are that many buildings in Washington DC have been evacuated, the Pentagon and the Capitol among them. Many East Coast airports have instituted ground stops. Damage reported to brick buildings in DC’s Chinatown.

Hartford, CT felt the quake. New York City felt the quake. Philadelphia felt the quake.

Tech. Sgt. Paul Burns, 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron element leader, deployed to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, from Grand Forks, N.D., shortly after going home during training to care for his family after a record-breaking flood started June 23. The Burns' Family, who reside in Minot, N.D., is fine, but their house will need to be renovated, similar to the 4,100 other homes that were lost in Minot. Photo by Senior Airman Amber Kelly-Herard

On July 2, a 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron element leader was in Grand Forks, N.D. preparing for his deployment to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, when he was allowed to return home to Minot, N.D.

Sending an airman home during predeployment training is not typical protocol, but it was a necessity for Tech. Sgt. Paul Burns as more than 4,100 homes were lost in Minot due to a record-breaking flood beginning June 23.

“It was pretty bad, I had to see my house by boat,” said Burns, who is deployed from Grand Forks, N.D. “We have a split-level home and the lower level and most of the main level was flooded, there were some homes that you could barely see the roof.”

“Our yard became a collection point and we had a shed float over and other property from blocks and blocks away,” he continued. “12,000 people were without a home and were living in shelters or with friends, two weeks later there were only 280 who were still living in shelters, that speaks volumes about the city which opened its doors to others. Also there were no causalities or looting.”

Burns, who is originally from Buffalo, N.Y., first arrived at Minot Air Force Base in 1986 as a security forces airman. Later, he transitioned into the Air Force Reserves and remained a cop.

He also works for the Minot Police Department.

“The Minot Police Department was put on 12-hour shifts,” said Burns. “I’ve worked there for 16 years and have never seen us on 12-hour shifts for emergency situations, but everything was bad.”

Minot already had a housing shortage due to a recently found large oil reserve in the western part of North Dakota that has brought many workers to the area.

The Burns’ family, which includes Mrs. Burns and their 11-year-old daughter, were fortunate, because they were among the less than 10 percent of homeowners in the area who had flood insurance.

“Since we had insurance our house will be completely redone, but after that we will either sell or rent our home because we can’t go through this again,” said Burns. “It was hard looking at my daughter’s room where she used to play and seeing it covered with mold.”

The Burns’ house is scheduled to be renovated by December.

“It’s hard to find a contractor because most have been hired by the city to rebuild and clean up,” said Burns. “Luckily I have some contractor friends who will help, but there is still a four to five month wait.”

Meanwhile, his wife and daughter are living with friends, most of their belongings are in storage.

One-third of the population in Minot had to evacuate their homes due to the flood.

“We lived in a beautiful house in a new neighborhood, but now everything is grey and most people aren’t coming back, all because of water,” he continued. “Mostly we’ll miss our friends.”

Although more than 7,000 miles away, Burns is still trying to help Minot.

“I spoke at a 5/6 meeting to give perspective about the airmen at Minot Air Force Base who have lost everything and really need all the donations they can get,” said Burns. “Depending on where you lived in the city, some had to evacuate immediately while others had two days notice, so few people got everything out.”

The Joint Base Balad 5/6 Council is hosting two fundraisers at JBB for airmen at Minot.

Story by Senior Airman Amber Kelly-Herard
DVIDS