NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, October 26, 2012

INCIDENTS

East Coast Areas

Parks And Regions Prepare For Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy, the third most powerful storm of the 2012 season, continues on its northbound course with an anticipated landfall between Virginia to New England this coming Monday. Its winds are expected to still be near hurricane force when it arrives, partly due to unusually warm water off the East Coast. Due to the approach of a strong cold front, a full moon that will bring high tides on Monday, and already above normal stream flows in much of the Northeast, it could bring heavy rains, flooding, serious shoreline erosion, and considerable wind damage to the region.

Sandy will also affect parks along the East Coast before it arrives in the Northeast. Although the center will be well offshore, it will be close enough to bring winds and high seas and rain from the Outer Banks north.

Parks and regions have activated their hurricane plans and have begun daily phone conferences to coordinate both preparedness and possible emergency responses, if needed. The NPS Eastern IMT is on standby to assist where needed.

Reports from two parks have been received so far:

Cape Hatteras NS - Due the possibility of a close passage or a landfall on the Outer Banks, Dare County will be activating its emergency operations center on Saturday morning. Gale force winds are expected to begin on Saturday evening and continue through Sunday. Moderate to major overwash is forecast for east facing beaches from Duck to Nags Head and on Hatteras Island. NC-12 will likely be impassable due to both the storm and astronomically high tides; sound side following will also be a threat in some areas. The park is accordingly planning to activate its incident management team.

Cape Lookout NS - The park is expecting about 30 hours of tropical storm force winds, with maximum sustained winds of from 50 to 70 mph. Vehicle ferries will stop taking visitors to the islands today and will instead focus on removing visitors who wish to leave. Vehicle and passenger ferries are expected to stop operating on Saturday and may not resume operations until further notice. Visitor centers on the islands will close Saturday and will remain closed until Monday. Visitors are advised against heading out to the islands from Saturday through Monday; visitors already staying in the cabins or on the beaches are being advised leave the islands or to seek areas that are protected from overwash.

Updates to this report may be posted over the weekend if warranted by conditions. A full update will appear on Monday.

Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP

Search Underway For Missing Hiker

A search is underway in Kings Canyon National Park and the adjacent Inyo National Forest for 53-year-old L.C. of Pacific Palisades, who failed to return from a hike as planned last Monday. Twenty people from the park and the Inyo County Sheriff's Department are involved in the operation, which includes both ground searchers and three helicopters, one with thermal imaging technology. Efforts have been hindered by snow and high winds. L.C. started his hike last Friday at the Taboose Creek trailhead in the southern portion of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo National Forest with plans to travel over Taboose Pass toward the John Muir Trail in Kings Canyon National Park. His route may have included Split Mountain and areas to the south, including Pinchot Pass. He planned to return to the Taboose Creek trailhead last Monday. The search area is in rugged terrain between 10,000 and 12,000 feet. Between a foot and a foot-and-a-half of snow is on the ground in the search area. Temperatures are ranging from the mid-30s in the day to the low 20s at night. [Dana Dierkes, Public Affairs Officer]

Shenandoah NP

Driver Killed By Falling Tree On Skyline Drive

An SUV towing a camper was struck by a falling tree while traveling south on Skyline Drive on Tuesday evening. The driver attempted to avoid the tree by moving into the northbound lane, but it struck the windshield and the driver was impaled by branches. Rangers and local emergency squads responded. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The 58-year-old man from Tennessee was traveling with his wife, who was not injured in the accident. Investigation determined the tree was a live Virginia pine that had root system failure. [Jennifer Flynn, Deputy Superintendent]

Virgin Islands NP

Illegal Immigrants Come Ashore In Park

Early on Tuesday morning, the park received a report of undocumented aliens being dropped off in Haulover Bay on the island of St. John. Rangers and a special agent responded and found a 35-foot Magnum boat with three 200-horsepower motors located on the beach in Hansen Bay. They also found numerous articles of wet clothing nearby, but no people. The boat was pulled from the beach and taken to Cruz Bay, where Customs and Border Protection took possession of it. Local residents reported that the boat's captain had asked to use a phone early that morning, saying that his vessel had run out of gas. [L.R. Morris, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science - A memorandum calling for natural resource FY 2013 technical assistance requests has been issued. The FY 2013 technical assistance call memo, guidance, and Solution for Technical Assistance Requests (STAR) instructions are now available.

Lowell NHP - On October 22nd, Lowell National Historical Park hosted the launch of the Greater Lowell Evaluation and Advocacy Network (GLEAN), an effort to reduce and ultimately prevent domestic violence.

Pacific West Region - Sid Beckman has been selected as the new fire management officer for Pacific West Region, working out of the San Francisco office.

Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation, plus online training. Added this week is a land management investigator training course at FLETC.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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