NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, September 2, 2010
INCIDENTS
East Coast Parks
Carolina Coastal Parks Set For Hurricane Earl's Arrival
Hurricane Earl will approach the North Carolina coast late today and move near or over the Outer Banks tonight. The center is then expected to pass near or offshore of the Delmarva Peninsula. The hurricane will then track northeast along the coast, probably passing over Cape Cod. Parks along the coast from North Carolina to Maine are watching the storm closely and taking necessary actions. Here's today's summary:
Outer Banks Group (Cape Hatteras, Fort Raleigh, Wright Brothers) - Dare County announced a mandatory evacuation for all residents and visitors on Hatteras Island effective at 6:00 p.m. yesterday evening. The evacuation order for both residents and visitors of Hatteras Island does not apply to areas north of Oregon Inlet. At present, the order does not include the towns of Duck, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Southern Shores, Roanoke Island or mainland Dare County. All park visitor centers in the three parks closed at 5 p.m. yesterday and will remain closed until further notice. All park campgrounds in Cape Hatteras National Seashore were also closed yesterday and will remain closed until further notice. The reservation system for Ocracoke Campground has been temporarily suspended until further notice. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is closed and will remain closed until further notice. All ocean-side beach access for off-road vehicles in Cape Hatteras were closed yesterday at 5 p.m. At Oregon Inlet, high tides on Thursday are scheduled for 2:06 a.m. and 2:52 p.m. and high tides on Friday are scheduled for 3:13 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Severe coastal storm surge flooding is expected beginning on Thursday. If conditions permit, pedestrian access will be allowed. All remaining non-essential staff for Cape Hatteras, Fort Raleigh, and Wright Brothers were released at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. All essential ICS and LE personnel remain on duty.
Cape Lookout NS - The park is completing final preparations for the passage of Hurricane Earl. All non-essential employees were released at close of business yesterday. Essential employees will provide the final touches to ramp up the preparations tomorrow morning and be release around noon. As for yesterday afternoon, all visitors and vehicles were off of North Core Banks, all visitors with vehicles were off South Core Banks (though there were still some vehicles in the long term permitted parking lots) and all day use visitors had departed, and all visitors had left Shackleford Banks. Some overwash was reported in the New Drum inlet area (formally an inlet, this area filled in with sand last spring) and on the north end of North Core Banks. All personnel are scheduled to report to work at 8 a.m. on Friday to start assessments and get the park ready to reopen on Saturday morning.
Colonial NHP - Management met earlier this week to evaluate the hurricane and determine what actions needed to be taken to prepare for it. Maintenance staff have prepared and staged equipment in order to be able to respond to possible high winds, minor flooding or power loss. No closures are currently planned.
Assateague Island NS - Backcountry campers were evacuated and campsites closed yesterday, and the over sand vehicle areas in both Maryland and Virginia were closed. A decision on whether to evacuate the developed area campgrounds in Maryland will be made today. Visitor use infrastructure is being removed from the Toms Cove day use area, and lifeguard stands are being removed from the Maryland beaches. Vehicles (including ATVs and golf carts) are being removed from the Maryland district. Items susceptible to wind damage are being secured at all facilities both on and off the island. Select vehicles, vessels, and emergency response equipment will be moved off site today, if necessary. Sensitive equipment and documents will be protected from water damage in all offices (moved away from windows, covered in plastic, etc.) by close of business today.
Gateway NRA - The park began its preparations on Tuesday and met with cooperating agencies yesterday; additional meetings are set for this morning. Bathing beaches will likely be closed tomorrow. Some pre-storm assessments will be conducted today in anticipation of the need for damage assessments after the hurricane passes.
Fire Island NS - Storm preparations are underway. There will be no mandatory evacuation of the island.
Cape Cod NS - The park has put its storm plan into effect and established an incident management team. A review of the incident action plan will be held this morning. Numerous press inquiries have been received and interviews given.
Acadia NP - The park's incident management team has met with area emergency responders and begun preparations for Hurricane Earl. The strongest impacts - seas up to 15 feet, significant rain, and sustained winds of 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph - are expected on Friday morning. Campgrounds will be closed when sustained winds of 35 mph are blowing and two or more inches of rain are forecast to fall. Roads will be temporarily closed if water and debris wash over them.
[Barry Munyan, CALO; Cyndy Holda and Paul Stevens, CAHA; Stuart West, ACAD; Skip Brooks, COLO; Bob Grant, CACO; Peter Totorell, GATE; Carl Zimmermann, ASIS; Jay Lippert, FIIS; Stephen Clark, NERO]
Katmai NP&P
Targeted Searches Conducted For Missing Plane
Despite variable and windy weather over the search area on Tuesday afternoon, searchers were able to continue efforts to locate the missing floatplane carrying National Park Service employees Mason McLeod, 26, Neal Spradlin, 28 and Seth Spradlin, 20, and pilot Marco Alletto. No sign of the plane or passengers has yet been reported. Searchers have logged 45,700 flight miles to date in the search for the missing floatplane, which disappeared on August 21st. Targeted searching was to continue in some high elevation areas yesterday, weather permitting. Aircraft travelling in the area of the search should be aware of increased air traffic in the area due to search operations. Anyone who was monitoring radio traffic or heard a signal from an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) on 121.5 MHz between August 21st and the present around the Katmai/Kodiak area is asked to contact park dispatch at 907-246-3305. Visitors and staff who were in the Katmai/Kenai area during that time period are also asked to contact authorities whether or not they saw any evidence of an aircraft. Doing so can help determine where searchers should focus their efforts. For more information on the search, please visit the HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/katm/parknews/newsreleases.htm" park website for updated information. A 3-dimensional map of the park is available at HYPERLINK "http://www.shadedrelief.com/tom/katm_pano.jpg" this website. [Adrienne Freeman, Kathleen Kavalok]
Redwood N&SP
Rangers Rescue Drowning Man
California State Park ranger Mauricio Contreras and NPS ranger Paul Tibbetts rescued a distressed swimmer from the Smith River on August 29th. The 30-year-old Oregon man was swimming with friends near the Jedediah Smith campground picnic area when he disappeared in 20 feet of water. Contreras was one of the first rescuers in the water and worked with friends and bystanders to locate and bring the man to the surface. He was not breathing when he reached shore, so Tibbetts began and continued CPR until county ambulance personnel arrived and took over care. By the time he was transported to Sutter Coast Hospital, he had regained a pulse but was still not breathing on his own. He is currently in intensive care. [Marshall Neeck, 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/):
Workplace Enrichment - The NPS made the "most improved list" on this year's Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey, but still falls behind some of its sister Interior agencies.
Jefferson National Expansion - On Friday, August 20th, several dignitaries visited the park for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of architect Eero Saarinen, designer of the Gateway Arch and many of the world's most distinctive structures. Photo.
NPS incident submission standards can be found online at the HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" serious incident notification web page.
* * * *
Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).
--- ### ---