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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Tuesday, September 5, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Eastern Areas Update On Tropical Storm Ernesto Despite concerns about both strong winds and heavy rainfalls, Tropical Storm Ernesto caused few problems in its passage up the East Coast. Follow-up reports have been received from the following parks: Colonial NHP - The park was closed during the storm's passage. Winds knocked down numerous trees. Moores Creek NB - The park was closed during the storm, but partially reopened on Saturday morning (the picnic area remained closed due to a flooded roadway). Moores Creek remains well above flood stage within the park and a portion of the historic roadway and history trail/boardwalk remain underwater. A damage assessment will be undertaken once the water recedes. Cape Lookout NS - The park closed and put its emergency plan into effect last Thursday. The Coast Guard suspended operation of all ferries to and from the park that afternoon. From about 6 p.m. until midnight, heavy rains fell on the area. Winds increased during the evening and peaked at about 50 mph at 5 a.m. on Friday morning. Beaches were seriously eroded, some roofs sustained minor damage, and several sea turtle nests were lost. The park reopened at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Strong winds (30 to 40 mph) blew for most of the rest of the day. Ferry service to the park resumed in mid-afternoon. A full assessment of damages is now underway and should be completed by today. [Jeff Brice, SEACC; Wouter Ketel, CALO; Ann Childress, MOCR] Colonial NHP Employee Injured By Falling Tree On September 1st, maintenance employee Sam Winfred, 56, was driving from Jamestown to Yorktown when a tree fell on his Ford F-150 pickup. Winfred received a head injury and a laceration that required twelve stitches. He is currently recovering at home. The government-owned vehicle was totaled. Winfred was traveling by himself at the time of the accident. [Skip Brooks, Chief of Maintenance] Sequoia-Kings Canyon NPs Hiking Fatality On Mount Brewer The body of hiker G.R., 52, was found on Friday, September 1st, near the summit of Mount Brewer, bringing to a conclusion a four-day search for him. G.R., who was on a solo two-week backpacking trip in the parks, failed to appear as expected on August 27th. Two days later, his son contacted park dispatch and a search was immediately begun (Ned Kelleher, IC). Over the four-day period, 87 people were committed to the operation, including up to 21 ground searchers, six dog teams, mounted searchers and five helicopters. The 66th Rescue Squadron from Nellis AFB in Nevada was called in to help transport search teams to various areas and to conduct air reconnaissance. Due to the demands of heavy Labor Day weekend visitation, the Pacific West Region incident management team (Denny Ziemann, IC) was also brought in to assist the park with managing this large-scale search. G.R.'s pack and camp were found early on Friday by a dog team, so searchers began focusing on that area. He was spotted from a helicopter at 10:30 a.m. in a steep, narrow chute where access is extremely difficult and dangerous. Specially trained rangers from the Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite technical rescue teams recovered the body and are continuing the investigation of the incident. The cause of death is under investigation, but it appears at present that he fell to his death while trying to reach the mountain's summit. Also assisting in the search were SAR and technical rescue teams from six California counties - Los Angeles, Fresno, Tulare, Kern, Mono, and Inyo. [Alexandra Picavet, Public Affairs Officer] Rocky Mountain NP Fatal Fall On Mount Meeker A 58-year-old man from Louisville, Colorado, fell about 300 feet to his death near The Loft between Longs Peak and Mount Meeker on the afternoon of Sunday, September 3rd. Two rangers on a climbing patrol witnessed the accident and reached the man within a half hour. They found that he'd sustained massive traumatic injuries and had no pulse. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. The man and a friend had hiked to the summit of Mount Meeker that morning and were descending when the accident occurred. [Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Mary Bomar has been nominated by President Bush to be the next director of the National Park Service…. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |