NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

INCIDENTS

Chattahoochee NRA

Park Begins Damage Assessments As Flood Waters Slowly Recede

The park continues to deal with the impacts of a major flood on the Chattahoochee River. Rain totals in the areas around the park have ranged from 13 to 20 inches since Monday, forcing the operators of Georgia Power's Morgan Falls dam to open a total of eight flood gates. As noted in yesterday's report, this caused the closure of numerous park areas in anticipation of flooding, including Don White, Johnson Ferry, Paces Mill, Whitewater Creek, Vickery Creek, Columns Drive, Interstate North Parkway, Powers Island, and Abbotts Bridge. Island Ford was closed when water began flowing over the Island Ford pond dam and parkway. Maximum river flow occurred at 11 p.m. Monday, with the river reaching 28.6 feet and flowing at 51,000 cubic feet per second (normal levels are 5 feet and 1,900 cfs). This was the second highest flow recorded since the river reached 29 feet in December of 1919. On Tuesday, rangers continued to post and enforce closures, since flood waters continued to inundate low lying areas of the park. Many local roads surrounding the park remain closed due to exceedingly high water covering roadways and bridges. All of these bridges will remain closed until inspections are completed to ensure they are structurally sound. Numerous sewer manholes located along the river have been overflowing for the past two days, dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage in to the park. Flood waters contaminated with raw sewage present an additional public health issue. A diesel fuel spill of unknown quantity may have also occurred when a sand and gravel company adjacent to the river flooded. A search is underway for a 32-year-old man who is missing and presumed drowned. He was attempting to reach his father, whose residence along the river was flooding. His vehicle was found outside of the park and he was last seen attempting to ford a swollen creek on Monday afternoon. Late last night, Georgia Power began closing flood gates at the dam, and are down to four open gates. They predict that the remaining four gates will be closed over the next two days, barring further rains. The river receded slowly yesterday and damage assessments were begun, but were limited because many areas remain covered by flood waters and debris. Damages include loss of a restroom facility, automatic fee pay stations, pavement, road and trail erosion, signs, picnic tables, split rail fences, a mud slide, and downed trees. Welfare checks were made during the day to ensure employees were safe. [Scott Pfeninger, Acting Superintendent}

Grand Canyon NP

Body Of Missing Hiker Found Off North Rim Trail

Park rangers recovered the body of a man yesterday in an area below the North Rim near the Toroweap Valley. The man's wife had called park dispatch around 10:30 on Monday night and reported her husband overdue. The man had started a day hike around 9:00 a.m. Monday on a trail known as the Lava Falls Route. He had planned on hiking to the Colorado River and back, a round trip distance of approximately three miles. When he failed to return by dusk, his wife drove from the Toroweap Valley to Fredonia, Arizona, a three hour drive, to report him overdue. Two rangers went to the trailhead Monday night to set up a containment area and to stage for an early morning search. An aerial search of the Lava Falls Route began yesterday morning at approximately 8:50 a.m.. The man's body was found on the lower end of the route, just off trail, at approximately 9:20 a.m. Due to the steep and remote terrain, rangers were required to hike to the scene from a landing zone approximately one hour away. The man's body was flown out to Kingman, then taken to the Mohave County Medical Examiner's Office. Although the Lava Falls Route is one of the shortest routes from the rim to the river, it is a hot, steep and difficult route, with loose talus slopes made up of volcanic rock and an elevation change from rim to river of more than 2500 feet. The trailhead is approximately three miles south of the Tuweep Campground in a remote area of the Grand Canyon. Tuweep is a five hour drive from the North Rim developed area. The man's name and hometown/state are being held pending notification of family members. [Maureen Oltrogge, Public Affairs Officer]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

Kalaupapa NHP - Father Damien, famous throughout the world for his devotion to the victims of leprosy who lived on the Kalaupapa peninsula, will be canonized as a saint by Pope Benedict next month. The park was created to remember the legacy of Father Damien and those he served.

Fire and Aviation Management - The Division of Fire and Aviation Management is seeking applicants to serve for the inaugural term of the NPS Fire Honor Guard. Nominations are due by November 6th.

Publications - A new edition of a book by retired NPS historian Richard West Sellars, entitled Preserving Nature In The National Parks: A History, has been published by Yale University Press.

To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter): NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index ; non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

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Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found at the following web site:

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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