Hurricane Floyd Daily Response and Recovery Update
Department of Environment and Natural Resources • October 11, 1999 • 1600 hours
Current Situation:
CSC: For the period September 30, 1999 through October 11,1999 (as of 9:00 AM), the CSC has received a total of about 140 hurricane related calls. The CSC has also received an average of 5 regular CSC calls per day. Thursday October 7, 1999 was the day with the highest number of calls with a total of about 30. The Washington Regional Office was open from 10:00 AM - 2 PM on Saturday October 9, 1999. Thus, the CSC had its toll free telephone number transferred to the Washington Regional Office from 6:30 PM on Friday, October 8, 1999 through 2:00 PM on Saturday October 9, 1999. Only one call intended for the CSC was received at the Washington Regional Office at this time.
DAQ: The potential for widespread open burning of materials other than vegetative debris continues to be a concern for DAQ. However, regional staff have been out to the areas where most of the damage was done, and there appears to e very little illegal open burning taking place so far. We have attempted to contact the county fire marshals and the local fire departments to remind them about what is ok and what's not. We plan to be visible and give advice where necessary.
DCM: About 40 homes at Oak Island were destroyed or severely damaged. As many as 160 homes at Emerald Isle are now considered "imminently threatened". This number includes those homes that were considered "imminently threatened" before Floyd hit. Pier and dock damage throughout the 20 coastal counties was significant, but it remains to be seen how many of those will require CAMA permits. Local building inspectors must determine whether the structures were damaged beyond 50 percent of their value, thus requiring the property owner to get a CAMA permit before rebuilding. Post hurricane setback lines have been established everywhere except for Topsail Island. The post-hurricane setback lines will be established at Topsail Island within the next two weeks. The reason for the delay is to give vegetation the storm covered with sand a chance to become unburied.
DEH: No report.
DFR: Tarboro Local Staging Area (LSA) closed out operations on October 9, 1999. Kinston LSA will close out operations on October 12,1999. On October 9, 1999, two tractor-trailers of hay were hauled by DFR trucks and personnel from the Rockingham area to West Craven High School. It was then offloaded onto smaller trucks and delivered to livestock in the area. Claridge Nursery is in the recovery and repair phase. Debris removal from seed orchards is complete. Sand deposits are in the process of being removed. Repair of ditches is underway. Beginning stabilization efforts of two major gullies in nursery field. Have 11 District personnel and 4 Nursery staff assigned to today's work detail along with 10 pieces of equipment. Repair will continue for several weeks. No seed lost during flooding. Seed was removed prior to flooding. Number of seedlings lost is being re-evaluated. Evaluation of damages to forestland and reforested areas will continue over the coming month, as some damage from flooding will take time to be evident. An updated projection will be provided by the end of the month.
DLR: DLR responded to an emergency dam safety situation at the Mid Pines Lake Dam in Moore County on October 8, 1999. The emergency situation was caused when heavy rainfall during Floyd refilled the drained lake, endangering the deficient dam. DLR personnel worked with the dam owner to breach the dam. DOT barricaded Highway 22 during the emergency breach. DLR has prevented numerous dam failures. The affected counties have over 1400 dams; approximately 100 of these have failed or were damaged during Floyd. The hard work of the dam safety staff in requiring that deficient dams be upgraded substantially reduced the number of failures during Floyd.
DMF: 1. The Division will be taking additional finfish, shrimp and crab tissue samples and water samples from coastal waters at 12 locations in the state beginning today. The samples will be tested by the DWQ in Raleigh, and at present we cannot determine the estimated cost. Division assets are presently sufficient and the Division will continue to sample and monitor shellfish and finfish as long as necessary. The Division is cognizant of the freshwater runoff (dead zone), but the water quality has not affected fish tissue. We presently have approximately 15 employees working on Floyd-related activities. 2. Pamlico and Pungo Rivers (Beaufort County), Sleepy Creek and Oyster Creek (Carteret County, White Oak River, New River and portions of the Intercoastal Waterway (Onslow County), and the Cape Fear River (New Hanover County) remain closed for taking shellfish. DMF reopened Lockwood Folly and Shallotte Rivers this morning.
DPPEA: 1. Mobile Homes - will have draft scope of work by COB Wednesday. Will have an informational meeting with contractors by Thursday or Friday. Meeting today with DPPEA, DEM, Epidemiology, Budget, General Services, Senior Management, and others to identify roles and responsibilities and developing MOU between the three effected Departments. This effort will last between 6 months and 1 year depending on the amount of asbestos found. 2. Providing some technical assistance and PR support for the Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection efforts. This should be completed by the end of the month.
DPR: Port-a-johns have been removed from Yorkshire Center, however staff are being encouraged to limit water usage as septic system will probably fail again in the event of more rain. There are 6 dehumidifiers in the basement in an attempt to dry the area out. The sewage system cannot be restored because when the water comes up it is at lake level. The Division continues to seek alternative office facilities to alleviate problems.
DSW: DSW will continue to work in cooperation with DWQ to monitor animal operations that require further follow-up. Otherwise, operation review staff are returning to their normal duties of conducting operation reviews. DSW is also working in Wayne County to survey damaged flood impoundments to be repaired and is working with DFR to assess damages and implement repairs to their nursery operations in Goldsboro. Initial assessments have been completed. DWQ is compiling and providing this information in their Situation Report. Survey on one impoundment in Wayne County has been completed. The survey of a second impoundment should be completed this week. A survey of the third impoundment is scheduled to begin this week; weather permitting. Survey of DFR's nursery in Goldsboro should be completed this week, as well. Five staff members are working on the items mentioned above. That number will drop this week as existing projects are completed. Operation Review staff are returning to normal operations.
DWM: 1. HHW Update - Safety Kleen and EcoFlo have been contracted to collect HHW at central collection points in flood-affected cities/counties. The first event was held on October 9, 1999 in Nash County. A follow-up meeting with DWM staff and contractors is planned for 1:00 PM today to evaluate success of the event. Additional counties have committed to holding collection events, with three confirming event locations and dates. DWM is developing a contract for curbside collection of HHW. A press release was developed to try to minimize the risk from handling and disposing of hazardous household products. 2. Underground Storage Tanks - Raleigh Regional Office: to date 381 facilities have been contacted; 319 facilities had information; 48 facilities reported flooding; and 8 sites were visited.
DWQ: We have not had any indications that at this time there are any farms that continue to be flooded or have water high on their dikes. There will continue to be problems with saturated spray fields for some time to come. Our staff is still making site visits to determine the status of the farms as far as freeboard. We will continue to have 10-20 people in the field for investigations at farms and municipal systems.
DWR: No change in status
Operational Priority:
Animal Operations
Dam Integrity
Drinking Water
Waste Disposal
Restrictions
Disposal methods
Inspections
Assessments
Re-permitting
Damaged high hazard dams
Animal waste lagoons
Lower water levels
Testing
System backups
Systems/plants operational
Temporary measures
Garbage collection
Site selection
Contingencies in place and executed
These priorities expected to remain during the next 72 hours
CSC
DAQ
DCM
DEH
DFR
DLR: The considerable dam-related follow-up that is needed includes: regular reinspection of potentially dangerous dams, determining ownership, contacting the owners, getting the owners to comply, initiating enforcement as necessary, reviewing the repair or breach plans when submitted, and answering numerous inquiries from citizens, consultants and public agencies.
DMF: No change.
DPPEA: We will be focused on the HHW collection efforts and mobile home recovery.
DPR
DSW: Continue same as above.
DWM
DWQ
DWR
Operational Status:
CSC: Volunteer staffing is currently adequate for the volume of phone calls. Two EPA employees will be helping with staffing the CSC beginning October 12, 1999.
DAQ
DCM
DEH
DFR: DFR personnel in affected counties will continue to coordinate with and assist local Emergency Managers as needed and approximately 15 DFR personnel assisting in LSA closeouts.
DLR: 1. Rose Hill chicken processing lagoon in Duplin County was inspected. Although damaged, the dam was not in imminent danger of failure. Owner was notified to obtain an engineer to develop a repair plan. 2. Glenwood Lake Dam, in Pitt County has been reinspected regularly. The lake level has been lowered. The dam is not considered in imminent danger of failure. The owner will be notified to repair or remove the dam. 3. Surles Pond Dam in Sampson County has also been reinspected. Dam is damaged, but is not in immediate danger. When dam ownership is determined, owner will be notified to lower lake level and repair or remove the dam. 4. DLR is monitoring several other damaged dams that are still impounding water and could endanger life or property. The cause of the damage was too much rainfall. Most of the failures were caused by ovetopping. The ones that didn't overtop suffered damage from excessive flow through the spillways. The second 6-8 inch rainfall a week after the hurricane finished eroding the earthen emergency spillways causing the failure of the Lake Wackena and Wayne County Wildlife Club dams. Staff working on Floyd-related projects includes staff from the western regional offices that have finished animal waste inspections and they have returned to duty offices. All the Land Quality staff in the WaRO (5), WiRO (4), FRO (7), about half of the RRO staff (4) and State Office dam safety staff (3) and the Chief Engineer, are still spending most of their time on Floyd-related work.
DMF: Continue additional sampling finfish, shrimp and crab tissue this week for follow-up on toxicological analyses.
DPPEA: Have 1.5 staff on mobile homes, 4 on assignment to the Customer Service Center, .5 on HHW and 2 in the Response Coordination Center.
DPR
DSW: Initial assessments are completed. DWQ is providing this information in their Situation Report.
DWM: The first HHW event was held on October 9, 1999 in Nash County. A follow-up meeting with DWM staff and contractors is planned for 1:00 PM today to evaluate success of the event. Additional counties have committed to holding collection events, with three confirming event locations and dates. DWM is developing a contract for curbside collection of HHW. There is currently 19 staff persons currently working on Floyd-related activities and 15 are expected to remain in the field over the next couple of weeks. Section Health and Safety Officer is working closely to assess health and safety needs. Inspectors are in the field today checking underground storage tank sites. No new underground storage tank information is forthcoming from the Wilmington, Washington and Fayetteville Regional Offices.
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