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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, November 15, 2012 INCIDENTS Assateague Island NS Substantial Headway Made In Hurricane Recovery Hurricane Sandy inflicted substantial damage on the park. A Type III incident management team (Craig Thatcher, IC) has been managing the recovery and has provided a status report. The damage to the park's two units included: Maryland - Dunes were breached in front of the park's group campsites, walk in campsites, and south beach parking area, causing them to either be totally washed away or covered by over four feet of sand. The bayside picnic area and the end of bayside parking lot were lost into the bay; the bayside “Life of the Marsh” and "Life of the Forest" trails were severely damaged or destroyed. The ferry landing naturalist shack was lifted off of its pilings and washed onto its side. All backcountry roads suffered significant damage. Virginia - The boathouse dock at the Coast Guard Saving Station, a National Historic Landmark, received significant damage. The beach parking lots were destroyed, and the main road was washed out. The team has made substantial headway in recovery operations. The following list is a compilation of completed and pending tasks: Large project assessments have been completed. Damage assessment costs are estimated at $3 million. An estimated $314,500 has been spent to date on emergency recovery operations. Contractors for Maryland DOT have continued work to repair the bicycle trail next to Highway 611 on the causeway east of the Highway 611 bridge. A saw crew is working on downed and hazardous tree removal. The Aerial Crane Company will remove damaged boardwalks and reset the naturalist shack on its pilings next week. Damaged asphalt from the parking areas will be removed by November 16th. Due to undermining, the road to Toms Cove Visitor Center in the Virginia unit will be open only to pedestrians/bicycles from the old corral area. The over-sand vehicle (OSV) zone has reopened to kilometer 28. The OSV zone assessment has been completed to the Virginia state line. Cross island elevation transect assessments continue. Press releases have been sent out on remaining closure areas. Variable message signs updated with daily openings/closings. A storm damage slideshow has been posted on the park web page. Photos have been HYPERLINK "http://www.flickr.com/photos/assateaguenps" posted to Flickr from the park website, which has received 30,000 hits to date. The park web page has been updated concerning hunting and closures. Assessments of backcountry hunting and canoe signs have been completed. Damaged backcountry roads are being filled utilizing heavy equipment. Interpretation and visitor use assistant staff have returned to normal operations. The park visitor center and state park day use area are open. The north beach parking lot has opened. The Oceanside Campground loops 1 and 2 and Bayside Campground have reopened. The group campground will open on November 17th. Limited hunting is opened in the Maryland Unit. The Toms Cove Visitor Center in the Virginia Unit is open. No injuries have occurred during recovery operations. The Type III IMT is scheduled to transition the incident back to park on November 15th. [Paul K. Stevens, Liaison Officer] Mount Rainier NP Lost Snowboarders Rescued After Two Nights On Mountain Late on the afternoon of Sunday, November 11th, two snowboarders who were descending from Camp Muir became lost at the 7,300-foot elevation near McClure Rock, approximately two miles up the mountain from Paradise. They contacted 911 via cell phone, and rangers began organizing for a search the next morning. The two men, ages 20 and 21, had planned to be out only for the day, so had no overnight gear. They dug out a snow cave, where they spent their first night. A winter storm dropped over 20 inches of new snow that night. With a rapidly dying cell battery, they were able to contact park dispatch the following morning to report that they'd made it through the night and were marking their cave with their brightly colored snowboards. That day, 21 ground searchers made their way slowly through deep fresh snow and whiteout conditions to the snowboarders last known point near McClure Rock. Near the end of the day on Monday, one search group was able to make visual contact with them from about a half mile away. Due to darkness, avalanche conditions, poor visibility and exhaustion, though, the searchers were unable to locate them again and were called back to base. On the morning of November 13th, searchers reached the pair, who were near the location of the old Paradise ice caves. Neither suffered significant injuries. They were rewarmed and escorted back to Paradise. In all, 80 people were employed in the search in both support and operations. The IC on this incident was Stefan Lofgren. [R. Chuck Young, Chief Ranger] Cape Hatteras NS Dump Truck Driver Killed In Nighttime Crash Two dump trucks being utilized in the reconstruction of dunes along North Carolina Highway 12 within the park collided around 1 a.m. on the morning of November 11th. The first truck lost power, causing the electrical system to malfunction and leaving the truck without any visible illumination. The second truck ran directly into the first truck's rear, causing it to rotate sideways and roll onto its side. The driver of the second truck was entrapped in its cab, which was soon fully engulfed in flame. He was extricated and flown to a hospital in Virginia, but did not survive. [Bill Reynolds, Protection 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/): Curecanti NRA - Engine 278, an 1882 Baldwin locomotive leased to the park by the nearby City of Montrose, returned to Curecanti last week following a complete restoration. It will again be on exhibit in Cimarron, a historic town within the park. Grand Canyon NP - On Thursday, November 1st, Grand Canyon National Park hosted a signing ceremony to commemorate the renewal of its sister park relationship with China's Yuntaishan World Geopark. The two parks signed their initial five-year sister park agreement in August of 2007. St. Croix NSR - Robin Maercklein, current chief of resource management at St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, will be retiring on December 15th. Robin has held this temporary post for most of the last two years, capping a National Park Service career that began in 1979. * * * * 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). --- ### --- |