NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
INCIDENTS
Chickasaw NRA
Tropical Depression Bill Causes Unprecedented Flooding
On June 18th, after receiving heavy rainfall in the Arbuckle District and surrounding community, Lake of the Arbuckles reached record high levels at 18 feet over the normal lake level and almost six feet over the spillway structure. This caused widespread flooding and damage to park structures and forced closures of most of the park's lakeside recreational facilities.
The interiors of two lakeside ranger stations flooded. Also affected was much of the park's infrastructure, including lift station equipment which had to be dismantled and moved to safety. Prior to this weather event the park had been significantly impacted by flooding during May, as campgrounds and day use areas had already been closed with areas underwater.
The previous record rainfall from May and early June combined with the seven inches dropped by Tropical Storm Bill also caused problems in the Platt Historic District. High water in the creeks covered roadways and threatened the Travertine Nature Center. The entire eastern half of the Platt District was closed at one time for almost 36 hours and the nature center was closed and sandbagged for possible flooding. There were several fallen trees and other debris which required removal for visitor safety and to remove stream blockages.
During the flood event, rangers also responded to mutual aid requests to rescue residents near the adjacent community of Davis. Three local residents were rescued from rising flood waters. Search operations were conducted for missing individuals on the Washita River as it reached a record level of 20 feet above flood stage.
[Ron Parker]
Dinosaur NM
Searchers Recover Body Of Missing Rafter
The body of a missing rafter has been recovered by search and rescue staff from Dinosaur National Monument, Moffat County Sheriff's Office, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife near Triplet Falls on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument. Based on interviews with members of the river group, the following is a summary of the event.
A 16-member private river trip ran Triplet Falls on Saturday, June 20th. After running the rapid, four members of the party hiked back upstream to run a section of the rapid known as the "Birth Canal" with a nine-foot paddle raft. The group made it through the "Birth Canal", but hit a rock shortly below, and the raft flipped, dumping all four occupants into the river.
The paddle raft was flushed down river and recovered by other members of the group. Three of the rafters were able to swim to shore. The fourth occupant of the paddle raft, a 34-year-old man from Denver, Colorado, was briefly spotted in the water below the "Birth Canal" before he disappeared. Members of the group reported that he appeared to be stuck. The rafting party observed that his personal flotation device (PFD) and one shoe popped to the surface where he was last seen.
Members of the group searched for the missing rafter for approximately one to two hours. They then continued downstream on their rafts to seek assistance. They stopped for the night at Rippling Brook campsite as it was getting dark and did not want to risk rowing in the darkness.
On Sunday, the group arrived at the Echo Park Ranger Station at approximately 11:15 am where they notified a ranger of the incident. Monument staff contacted Moffat County Sheriff's Office and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to assemble a response team.
The interagency response team under a unified command left Gates of Lodore by boat to Triplet Falls on Sunday evening. The group arrived at Triplet Falls to begin water-based search and recovery efforts on Monday. The victim was located at approximately 12:30 pm. His body was transported to Echo Park by raft.
Triplet Falls, which has a Class III difficulty rating, is located in a remote portion of Dinosaur National Monument about 12 river miles from the monument's northern boundary. The area is surrounded by steep canyon walls rising 1,200 feet and higher above the river. There is no cell service in that portion of the monument. River flow was approximately 1,670 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the time of the incident.
[Dan Johnson]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):
Yellowstone NP - Yellowstone National Park is partnering with Montana State University Library's Acoustic Atlas, an archive of natural sounds from the West, to add to the atlas' growing collection by gathering high-fidelity recordings of the species and soundscapes of Yellowstone.
Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - The 2015 edition of National Park Service Law Enforcement Reference Manual 9 is now available. It can be accessed electronically on the new RM-9 Google site.
Office of Communications - The Henry Gerber House in Chicago, Illinois, has been designated a National Historic Landmark, becoming the nation's second LGBT related property to achieve such recognition.
Park Facility Management Division - As part of ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum fuel use, the Department of Energy and the NPS have announces seven new Clean Cities National Parks Initiative projects.
Southeast Region - Bill Justice, currently the superintendent of Abraham Lincoln National Historical Park, has been selected as the new superintendent of Vicksburg National Military Park.
To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:
NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index
Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/
The Morning Report is 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@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).
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