East Coast Areas
Hurricane Ivan Recovery Operations Underway
The following reports, some preliminary, had been received through late Sunday regarding the impacts that Hurricane Ivan had from landfall on the Gulf Coast through departure in the Northeast:
Gulf Islands NS — The first, very preliminary reports on damage have been compiled and appear below. The park is still in the process of contacting all employees, an effort impeded by communications and travel problems throughout the area. A number of employees report serious to severe damage to their homes. Here's a snapshot of damage to the park:
- Mississippi District — The pier and boardwalk on West Ship Island and the pier on Horn Island were damaged. Water needs to be tested at both locations. A half dozen trees came down in the Davis Bayou area and will need to be removed along with debris on the islands, but all facilities and the campground can be reopened.
- Perdido Key Area, Florida District — Several miles of road have been washed away and the pavilions and ranger station have been destroyed.
- Fort Pickens Area, Florida District — All buildings in the historic area are flooded to a depth of several feet, including Fort Pickens. The building housing the museum was moved off its foundation and a section of it was detached; the library within was flooded. Also flooded were the Bally Building (which houses artifacts), the fire house, and the visitor center and Eastern National bookstore. There's water inside the seawall and the road and parking lot are underwater. The fishing pier has lost its decking. Fort Pickens Road has been variously flooded, covered with sand, broken into sections and/or breached by the gulf. Pavilions in the Langdon Beah area have been damaged, as has been the associated parking lot.
- Santa Rosa Area (Opal Beach), Florida District — Six miles of road have been washed out. All utilities have been destroyed from Navarre Beach to the park entrance. The bike path has been lost. The supports and roofs of the six clusters of picnic pavilions held, but their concrete floors buckled.
- Naval Live Oaks Area, Florida District — The park headquarters building was flooded and sustained water damage. The boardwalk behind the building was destroyed. Six vehicles were damaged.
Full reports will appear as they become available. The Eastern IMT (Rick Brown, IC) flew to Tallahassee on Saturday and has arrived at the park.
Carl Sandburg NHS — The park sustained a significant amount of wind damage, including the loss of historic vegetation. Power and phones are out. One outbuilding was also damaged.
Horseshoe Bend NMP — Hurricane Ivan caused considerable tree damage, but no structures were affected. Power and phones are out.
Canaveral NS — The storm wiped out about two-thirds of turtle nesting sites.
Delaware Water Gap NRA — Rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan was forecast to be in the range of two to three inches, but at least triple that amount fell in a short time between Friday evening and early Saturday morning. The consequent flooding throughout much of Pennsylvania was so significant that Governor Ed Rendell issued a disaster declaration for 34 counties. Parts of New Jersey, New York and nearby states were similarly affected. The park, which lies along the Delaware River and has districts in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, sustained considerable damage from fast moving waters. The Delaware River normally runs about five feet deep and at about 8,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the principal gauge in the park at this time of year, but rose over the course of about twelve hours on Saturday to nearly 30 feet and 140,000 cfs — a volume commensurate with previous floods but at a rate of increase not seen in anyone's memory. Tributaries to the river were quickly out of their banks and caused considerable damage to roads, culverts and bridges. Small streams and sheet flow filled basements and caused serious erosion problems throughout the area. The park immediately went into ICS. Maintenance crews and rangers spent the first hours closing roads, cutting up downed trees to free drivers who'd gotten trapped on roads, and scrambling to shore up bridge abutments and wing walls. Closures included 20 miles of Route 209, a primary north-south highway through the Pennsylvania District, and significant sections of other primary roads — Old Mine Road and Route 615 in New Jersey and River Road in Pennsylvania. A dozen lesser roads were also closed, as was the entire river corridor. Saturday ended with two boat rescues of stranded motorists on Route 209. One of these rescues, which required a coordinated effort among several agencies in darkness and with waters rising rapidly, was of a couple who'd driven around a barrier on the highway. Their vehicle has not yet resurfaced. The Delaware River crested in the early hours on Sunday morning and began to slowly recede. The IMT spent Sunday conducting damage assessments. Preliminary findings included the following:
- Three employee residences flooded.
- Loss of half of one bridge on Toms Creek Road and damage substantial enough to four bridges on Route 209 to warrant the continued closure of that highway until engineers can assess their stability.
- Continued closure of the above noted park roads due to high water, silt, debris and washouts.
- The Kittatinny Point Visitor Center flooded and inaccessible.
- Facilities at Smithfield Beach, Bushkill Access, Dingmans Access and a half dozen other river areas underwater and suffering from an as yet undetermined amount of damage.
- Washouts and damage to driveways and dirt roads throughout the park.
Damage assessment will continue today and through the week, including
an evaluation of the park's many dams (more than any other park in the
system).
Reports from Ken Garvin, FMO, Southeast Regional
Office; J.D. Lee, Chief Ranger, GUIS, and Gail Bishop, GUIS; Bill
Halainen, IO, Incident Management Team, DEWA.
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Monday, September 20, 2004
NPS Fires
For a brief supplemental narrative on each fire, click on the bar with the arrow. Internal NPS readers can link directly to full reports on each fire by clicking on the notepad icon; public readers of the Morning Report can obtain similar information by going to http://www.nps.gov/fire/news
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National Situation Report
The full NIFC Incident Management Situation Report for today can be obtained at http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf. NIFC's national fire news is at http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Office of Personnel Management
Memorandum: "Hurricane Ivan — Absence, Leave, Overtime Pay and Hiring Flexibilities"
The Office of Personnel Management has issued instructions regarding absence, leave, overtime pay and hiring flexibilities in conjunction with Hurricane Ivan and its aftermath.
The full text of that memo can be found at:
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Gettysburg National Military Park (PA)
Brion FitzGerald Off To Persian Gulf
The community and staff of Gettysburg National Military Park send their best wishes to chief ranger Brion FitzGerald, who has been called to active duty and is now serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Persian Gulf region. In addition to his NPS duties, Brion has for many years also served as a lieutenant commander in the United States Coast Guard Reserves. Please join us in wishing Brion a safe and happy return.
Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found on the left side of the front page of InsideNPS. All reports should be submitted via email to Bill Halainen at Delaware Water Gap NRA, with a copy to your regional office and a copy to Dennis Burnett in Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO.
Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.