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Iowa Flooding. Too Much Water But None to Drink. Record Flooding of 2008. Seven river basins at or exceed record flood levels Cedar, Iowa & Des Moines Rivers “Wide as Mississippi” Overtopped & failed levees in several river basins flooded several towns: Oakville, Palo, Wapello and others.
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Iowa Flooding Too Much Water But None to Drink
Record Flooding of 2008 • Seven river basins at or exceed record flood levels • Cedar, Iowa & Des Moines Rivers “Wide as Mississippi” • Overtopped & failed levees in several river basins flooded several towns: Oakville, Palo, Wapello and others
2008 • 38,000 displaced, countless more lives disrupted • Cedar Rapids, second largest city in Iowa 3,000 homes impacted • Multiple cities suffer water, sewer, major disruption for days • Many small towns “lost what makes them towns”: schools, grocery, gas stations
Response • The Governor proclaimed 84 counties disaster areas covering nearly 45,000 sq. miles and almost 700 towns and cities • 4,000 Iowa Air & Army Guard on state active duty/1,600 deployed • Sheltered over 1,000 animals in rescue shelters • Combined Law effort, State, County, Local, • 7 Counties opened 97 Shelters for over 9,000 people
SEOC State Emergency Operations Center
SEOC Activation in Iowa • State resources are required for a response to a disaster because resources at local level have been exceeded • Each agency’s role is defined in the Iowa Emergency Response Plan • Number of agencies responding varies depending on the type and severity of the disaster
SEOC Activation • Agency central office operations staff respond to the SEOC • Two 13 hour shifts per day if needed • PIO office may staff differently • Each agency has one or more computers • File cabinet to store agency specific information • WEB EOC – Event tracking and mission assignment software
State Emergency Operations Center Opens – 2008: May 25th • DNR Emergency Response Unit plus water supply from CO respond on 6/8/08 • Unified Command – Funnel all information through SEOC • coordinates emergency response through county coordinators • Public policy through Governor’s office • Rumor control through public information
Disaster Status • The county EOC has the same function as the State EOC • Coordination of resources to respond to disaster efficiently and effectively • All requests for assistance by local utilities, businesses, agencies etc., must flow through county EOC (28E agreements exempted) Example, WW plant needs a pump
Disaster Status • The county determines if the need can be met with local resources • If not, the county will notify the SEOC and a request will be logged into WEB EOC • SEOC will then assign a mission to an agency or agencies to deliver resources to the community
Emergency Management Compacts • IMAC • Iowa Mutual Aid Compact (2002) • County to county agreement (91) • Built on EMAC principles • Participation does not require a response • Used during local or state disasters or exercises • Requests managed by HSEMD
Emergency Management Compacts • EMAC • Emergency Management Assistance Compact (1996) • State to state agreement (50 states) • Allows exchange of funds, personnel and resources and liability coverage • Participation does not require a response • Used during state or presidential disasters
Emergency Management Compacts • EMAC • Iowa requested • Highway patrol staff • Incident Management Teams • County Emergency Management Coordinators • Environmental & Public Health Teams • States Responding • MN, NE, KS, MS, VA, DE, CO, FL, NC
Emergency Management Compacts • WARN • Water & Wastewater Agency Response Network • Similar to IMAC and EMAC • Private Utilities May Participate • No disaster declaration required
Offers of Assistance • I offered assistance during the incident, how come no one contacted me? • A local jurisdiction must first request the assistance • Too many people responding can slow down and confuse the response • Offers of assistance must be vetted/verified • Self deployment or free lancers can be a problem
DNR Lessons Learned • ER staff needs to notify DNR when the SEOC opens and when it closes • DNR needs assistance in SEOC during large incidents • DNR needs to write up a canned message for staff to refer to if they are contacted about offers of personnel or resources
SEOC Lessons Learned • Utilize CI/KR and GIS based mapping • Link elements back to interactive flood mapping • Identify impacted resources based on flood projections
Contact • John Benson • Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management • John.benson@iowa.gov • Michael Anderson • Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources • 515/725-0336 michael.anderson@dnr.iowa.gov