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BOAZ HOUSING AUTHORITY
DISASTER PLAN
DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
I. Natural Disasters Background
II. Disaster Management: Theoretical Aspects
III. Disaster Management: Specific Components
2.0 Strategic Objectives/Goals
I. Introduction
II. Disaster Management: A Different
Conceptual Framework
IV. Strategic Goals/Objectives
a. Primer on Goal Attainment
3.0 The Residential Community
I. Introduction
a. Demographic Analysis
b. Risk Assessment
c. Vulnerability Assessment
4.0 Thunderstorms/Lightning
I. Introduction
II. Thunderstorms: The Fundamentals
a. Protective Measures
5.0 Tornadoes
I. Introduction
II. Tornadoes: The Fundamentals
III. Fundamentals for Reducing Risks
IV. Specific Elements for Reducing Risks
a. Education
b. Awareness
c. Basic Rules
d. Shelters
e. Protective Measures
6.0 Extreme Heat
I. Introduction
II. Extreme Heat: The Fundamentals
III. Extreme Heat: The Effects
a. Heat Stroke
b. Heat Exhaustion
c. Heat Cramps
d. Sunburn
e. Heat Rash
f. Protective Measures
7.0 Floods
I. Introduction
II. Floods: Coastal and Inland
III. Floods: The Fundamentals
a. Protective Measures
8.0 Hurricanes
I. Introduction
II. Hurricanes: The Fundamentals
III. Hurricanes: Glossary of Terms
a. Protective Measures
9.0 Winter Storms and Extreme Cold
I. Introduction
II. Winter Storms and Extreme Cold: The
Fundamentals
a. Ice
b. Snow
c. Winter Flooding
II. Winter Storms and Extreme Cold:
Glossary of Terms
a. Protective Measures
10.0 Monitoring, Alert and Warning System
I. Introduction
II. Alerts, Monitoring and Warnings:
A Technology-based Approach
a. NOAA Weather
b. Internet –based Systems
11.0 Mitigation
I. Introduction
II. Mitigation: The Developmental Process
a. Goals/Objectives
b. Mitigation Actions
c. Loss Estimation
12.0 Education and Training
I. Introduction
II. Resident Awareness
III. Resident Preparedness
IV. Resident Planning
13.0 Disaster Management: Putting the Pieces
Together
I. Introduction
a. Direction and Control Annex
b. Warning Annex
c. Communications Annex
d. Emergency Public Information Annex
e. Resource Management Annex
f. Health and Medical Annex
g. Evacuation Annex
h. Mass Care Annex
1. Special Needs Population
1.0
Introduction
I. Natural Disasters: Background
Worldwide, the impact of disasters on humans, including all those killed, injured, or made homeless, has conservatively been estimated to have affected 200 million people. The economic cost to industrialized countries is estimated to be more than 80 billion each year in the last decade. With increasing population pressure in the coming 35 years, the number of people affected by natural disasters could increase massively.
During the past four decades, natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, tropical cyclones flood, drought, and other hazards have caused major loss of human lives and livelihoods. They equally destroyed economic and social infrastructure and created environmental damage.
While the infrastructure damage from disasters is greatest in industrialized countries, more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters occur in developing countries. These enormous losses underscore the urgent need for improved disasters reduction, especially when one considers the negative impact disasters have on the lives of those affected and a country’s resources.
The escalation of severe disaster events triggered by natural hazards is increasingly threatening not only to the sustainable development and poverty-reduction initiatives in the disaster-affected countries but also in many cases that require the provision of humanitarian aid.
The loss of human lives and the rise in the cost of reconstruction efforts and loss of development assets has forced the issue of disaster reduction and risk management onto the world stage. It is estimated that in economic terms the global cost of natural disasters is anticipated to exceed $300 billion annually by the year 2050, if the likely impact of climate change is not countered with aggressive disaster reduction measures.
The environmental impact of natural hazards, in particular, the loss of environmental services (water, forest, biodiversity, ecosystem function, etc.), is still difficult to assess and is often underestimated. Indirect economic losses of “market share,” following the disruption to trade after a disaster, also in not factored in.
The United States is one of the most severe weather-prone countries on Earth.
Each year, Americans cope with an average of 10,000 thunderstorms, 2,500 floods, 1,000
tornadoes, as well as an average of six deadly hurricanes. Potentially deadly weather impacts every American.
Some 90 percent of all presidentially declared disasters are weather related, leading to around 500 deaths per year and approximately 26 billion dollars in damage for 2004. More specifically, Alabama ranks in the top ten in hazardous weather fatalities, injuries and property damage.
Of the total presidentially declared disasters, Alabama ranks seventh. The top ten is as follows:
Rank State Total number of
Disaster declared
1 Texas 77
2 California 70
3 Florida 57
4 Louisiana 51
5 New York 50
6 Oklahoma 46
7 Alabama 45
8 Kentucky 44
9 Mississippi 42
10 Pennsylvania 40
During 2004, the number of fatalities by age and gender was as follows:
2004 SUMMARY OF FATALITIES FOR ALL
HAZARDS BY AGE AND GENDER
FEMALE MALE UNKNOWN TOTAL PERCENT
0 to 9 11 13 0 24 7
10 to 19 9 20 0 29 8
20 to 29 11 33 1 45 12
30 to 39 16 33 0 49 13
40 to 49 12 40 0 52 14
50 to 59 14 36 0 50 14
60 to 69 14 18 0 32 9
70 to 79 10 12 0 22 6
80 to 89 12 11 0 23 6
> 90 2 1 0 3 1
Unknown 11 21 8 40 11
Total 122 238 9 369 100+
Percent 33 64 2 100
Sixty percent of the severe weather-related deaths occurred between the ages of 20 to 59
years of age. Within this age range, fatalities for males exceed females by almost three times, 142 to 53, respectively. In 2004, significantly more of the reported deaths
occurred in the month of September. Surprisingly, extreme heat was responsible for an overwhelmingly number of the fatalities.
II. Disaster Management: Theoretical Aspects
A disaster is “a naturally occurring event with or without warning, causing or threatening death, injury or disease, damage to property, infrastructure or the environment, which exceeds the ability of the affected society to cope using only its own resources.” Natural Disasters arise in the environment and outside of human control. But often natural disasters such as famine or drought have interacting human and natural causes.
Sudden disasters can lead to emergency and unforeseen event that calls for immediate measures to minimize its adverse consequences. Slow onset disasters result when the ability of people to support themselves, and sustain their livelihoods, slowly diminishes over time. Such disasters may also be aggravate ecological, social, economic and political conditions.
It is not true that disasters are entirely unpredictable. Floods occur in valleys and flood plains. Natural disasters are threats to life, well-being, property and/or the and various forms of social exclusion. The risks can be described in advance. Vulnerability results from the interaction of a community, its environment and those disasters. Storms of equal magnitude might cause minimal disruption in the United States.
Disaster management encompasses all aspects of planning for and responding to disasters, including hazard analysis, vulnerability reduction (preparedness), prevention, mitigation, response, recovery and rehabilitation. It may refer to the management of both the risks and consequences of disasters. Contingency planning relates to events, which may or may not occur, in which objectives and scenarios are agreed upon managerial and technical actions defined, and potential responses put in place to prevent, or respond to an emergency situation.
A complicating factor is that disaster management has become increasingly complex, compared to previous limited responses to natural events. The field of disasters, emergencies and risks is a rapidly changing one.
Disaster management has become a focus area for scientific endeavors to achieve a better understanding of the hazards that shape our natural and built environments and to set standards to bring about a safer world. It involves contingency planning and response to emergency events triggered by both natural forces.
Mitigation is action to reduce the consequences of a disaster. While it may not be possible to prevent all disasters, the effects can be modified or reduced if appropriate
steps are taken. Responses can be divided into early and late phases. Early responses are rescue and relief. Later, responses are rehabilitation and reconstruction.
The first people to respond to any disaster are communities themselves, not government. Their resourcefulness and resilience is the key to disaster mitigation. Local people are also the main drivers of reconstruction and continued development.
III. Disaster Management: Specific Components
Disaster Management is a systematic process that produces a range of measures associated with hazard mitigation, emergency preparedness, impact response and disaster recovery, and which contributes to the safety and well being or communities and the environment. It combines risk management and effective management practices. Disaster Management encompasses all aspects of planning for and responding to disasters. It applies to management of both risks and the consequences of disasters.
Disaster Management has five components; Risk Assessment; Vulnerability Analysis; Mitigation; emergency Preparedness; and Emergency Management:
• Risk Assessment – involves identifying all potential threats
to the organization. The list forms the foundation for the
disaster management effort. Subsequent to identification of
the potential threats, the likelihood of each threat must be assessed
and categorized.
• Vulnerability Analysis – risk analysis from an environmental,
socio-economic and demographic perspective. Vulnerability
results from the interaction of a community, its environment
and the prevailing hazards.
- geography, natural disaster type and demographics can
contribute to higher levels of vulnerability
• Mitigation – involves an examination of the actions necessary
to decrease the projected levels of danger and identify the
resources required for implementing those actions. The efforts
needed to reduce risk and vulnerability. It involves the actions
to reduce the consequences of a disaster.
• Emergency Planning – emphasizes the principles of response as
opposed to processes and do not include the specific details on
how to respond. It incorporates hazard assessment and risk reduction.
It also addresses inter-organizational coordination.
• Emergency Preparedness – refers to the readiness of an entity to react constructively to threats from the environment in a manner that minimizes
the negative consequences of the impact for the health and safety of
individuals.
• Emergency Management – involves performance and meeting the
emergency demands, implementing the assessment, corrective
protective and coordinating actions identified in the planning stage.
Planning involves the actual design and management necessary for
the implementation and execution of the plan during the emergency.
2.0
Strategic Objectives/Goals
I. Introduction
Natural Disasters are not totally unpredictable but the specific geographic location of the severe weather conditions cannot be predicted with precision. Oftentimes, this unpredictability lulls management and residents into a sense of complacency. The question becomes “If it is highly unlikely that severe weather conditions will negatively affect my area, why should I invest time and money into prevention programs?”
This question results in at least two different perspectives on disaster prevention strategies. Metaphorically, these perspectives are best described as the Ant and Grasshopper. Grasshoppers play the odds. From this perspective, the natural disasters are unlikely to occur. Thus, it is really unnecessary to invest heavily into prevention strategies.
On the other hand, Ants take precautionary measures regardless of the odds of a natural disaster occurring. They proceed as if a disaster will occur. Few organizations are completely Ants, but many default to a Grasshopper approach to Disaster Management. It is less burdensome financially and time wise to not take preventive measures.
The difference in the two is the “expected cost” between the two approaches. Expected cost is the probability of a disastrous event multiplied by its associated costs.
The ants hedge the cost of their investment in prevention measures. Conversely, Grasshoppers do not incur any cost if a disaster does not occur or full cost of recovery if there is one.
The expected costs for the Grasshopper’s all of nothing approach to disaster management are determined over time. A rational organization or insect attempts to minimize expected costs under either circumstance. If the expected cost of prevention is less than the loss occurred in the event of a disaster occurring, then you invest in prevention measures.
II. Disaster Management: A Different Conceptual Framework
As discussed above, organizations have a tendency to “play the odds” as it pertains to disaster management – assume that disaster is not likely to occur, thusly minimizing investment in prevention measures. The challenge to public housing executives is to develop a process to allocate resources before and after a disaster
economically while assessing the likelihood of expected costs to their respective public housing authorities.
With the apparent increase in the severity of natural disasters, community leaders, especially public sector leaders must reassess their approach to disaster management. The potential cost to life and property simply is too great to risk to be left exclusively grasshopper approach to disaster management.
There is a heightened awareness of defining losses more broadly to include direct impacts of a natural disaster (e.g., physical damage, injuries and loss of lives) as well as indirect losses over time (e.g. operational interruption, stress, political costs) has made disaster management a priority for housing authority management.
Traditionally, disaster management has measured catastrophic loss in terms of monetary units. Other tangible and intangibles measures were often left out of the equation. Research has shown that psychological and emotional factors have an enormous impact on how people perceive and respond to the occurrence of natural disasters.
The research studies showed that natural disasters whereby individuals had little knowledge, experience, and preparation have been the most dreaded and perceived as the most risky and threatening. This has resulted in a wide disparity between how ordinary citizens and leading experts view the same impending natural disasters.
With the increasing severity of natural disasters, it is important that a different conceptual framework be developed to ensure that these natural disasters do not cause an unacceptable level of costs to the housing authority community. In this new low probability, high consequence environment, the approach to disaster management must undergo significant change.
Historically, disaster management has focused on responding or simply reacting to specific and immediate disaster rather from the recognition of opportunities and the implementation of long term, strategic planning. The time horizon for public leaders is the primary determinant in whether disaster management becomes a high priority.
The basic assumption for many community leaders has been that disaster management is primarily a “response” function and a concern only for first responders
(i.e., fire departments, police, emergency hospital staff, etc.). This has led to some public sector leaders to remain uninvolved, uncommitted and under-invested in changing the approach to disaster management.
Disaster Management’s new conceptual framework requires that the operational and technical capacities (the response and reactive function) be linked up to policy making and broad community support (strategic and proactive). It can no longer be confined to preparing for, responding to, or recovery from specific disasters.
Disaster Management must assume center stage with community leaders, including housing authority management. There is a growing consensus that the limited, task oriented, technical, and disaster specific orientation of the old disaster management approaches must be replaced with a broader more strategic framework for disaster management. Housing authority management must be an integral part to the broad, community wide effort to implement a disaster management plan.
The different conceptual framework for disaster management is primarily the movement from reacting to, responding to and recovering from natural disasters. Today, disaster management must plan strategically for impending and inevitable natural disasters. Strategic planning and goal setting becomes central to the housing authorities’ effort to protect the lives and property of their communities.
III. Strategic Goals/Objectives
A. Primer on Goal Attainment and Strategy Formation
The mission of public housing is to “provide safe and sanitary housing to low-income families.” Inherent in the mission statement are two aspects that are pertinent to the Disaster Management Plan: safe housing and low-income families. Severe weather conditions threatened the safety of public housing residents. Additionally, low-income families are the most vulnerability and susceptible to the potentially devastating effects of severe weather.
To ensure that public housing indeed provides safe housing to low-income, vulnerable and fragile families, it is critical that public housing has a comprehensive disaster management plan in place to not only minimize damage to public housing units but also protect the lives of housing authorities’ residents.
In support of the public housing’s mission statement, this Disaster Management Plan establishes a set of goals, objectives and strategies to ensure that public housing authorities more effectively adheres to and achieves its mission.
At the outset, it is important to first begin with some definitions of terms that
establish the basis for goal attainment and strategy formulation. Strategy can more formally be defined as:
• as a pattern of objectives, purposes or goals and major policies
and plans for achieving these, stated in such a way as to define
what an entity or organization is in or is to be in.
It serves as the common thread that connects and directs the actions of public housing authorities, in carrying out its normal operations. It is the goal that dictates housing authorities’ day-to-day activities.
More specifically, goals can be further defined as: ultimate, long-run, open-ended attributes or ends an entity (housing authority) seeks. Goals are not achievable since they are not bounded in time. They are ongoing and continuous.
Comparatively, objectives are intermediate-term targets or milestones that are realizable. They support the never-ending pursuit of goals. As such, all objectives have four components: (1) the goal or attribute sought, (2) an index for measuring progress toward the goal or attribute, (3) a target or hurdle to be achieved, and (4) a time frame within which the target or hurdle is to be achieved.
Furthermore, a housing authority strategy is a statement of the fundamentals means it will use, subject to a set of environmental constraints in attempting to achieve its objectives. To achieve its objectives, a housing authority must take action; it must expend resources. Secondly, housing authorities must interact with its external environment or surrounding community stakeholders.
Thus, a housing authority strategy can be further defined as:
• a fundamental pattern of present and planned resource deployments
and environmental interactions that indicates how the housing
authority will achieve its objectives.
More plainly put, housing authorities must decide how much resources, financial or otherwise, it will expend to achieve its objectives and how much it will partner and/or include community stakeholders to support the achievement of its goals and objectives.
B. Disaster Management Plan: Goals and Objectives
In support of public housing authorities’ mission to provide safe and sanitary housing to low-income families, four Strategic Goals must guide the development and implementation of the Alabama’s Public Housing Disaster Management Plan. They include:
• Ensure the safety of public housing authority residents; and,
• Minimize damage to public housing property; and,
• Minimize suffering and disruption in housing authorities’ resident lives
and housing authorities’ operations; and
• Create disaster-resistant housing authority residential communities
These four Strategic Goals undergirds the public housing’s mission statement.
Strategic Goal 1 is aimed at ensuring the safety and protecting the lives of housing residents. This goal can be achieved through the following efforts:
Objective 1.1: emphasize pre-disaster preparedness and mitigation to reduce risks and hazard levels.
Strategies:
a. use monitoring, alert and early warning systems to significantly improve
housing authorities’ capabilities to assess and respond to impending
disasters and/or severe weather conditions.
b. accelerate efforts to create user-friendly monitoring, alert and early warning
systems
c. use appropriate technological advances to improve planning, preparedness,
mitigation, response, recovery, and communication techniques.
d. partner with other community agencies to support the housing authority’s effort
to improve pre-disaster preparedness and mitigation .
Strategic Goal 2 is aimed at minimizing significant levels of property damage due to severe weather conditions. The goal can be achieved through the following efforts:
Objective 2.1: conduct a rigorous assessment of public housing areas and facilities vulnerable to the adverse effects of severe weather conditions.
Strategies:
a. complete a thorough evaluation of housing authority sites and properties
that would most likely not withstand severe weather conditions without
incurring substantial damage.
b. develop a rank order that prioritize sites and facilities by how likely they
will experience substantial to less substantial damage.
c. use technology-based systems that are readily accessible to determine the
level of susceptibility experienced by the identified housing authority’s sites and facilities.
d. implement mitigation efforts to minimize the degree of damage to these
identified sites and facilities.
Strategic Goal 3 is aimed at minimizing suffering and disruption in housing authorities’ resident lives and housing authorities’ operations. Natural disasters can cause suffering and disrupt people’s lives and the normal operations or functions of a public housing authority. The level of disruption can be minimize through the adoption of the following steps:
Objective 3.1: Respond quickly and effectively prior to the onset of severe weather condition.
Strategies:
a. establish housing authority-based and community-based communication procedures that allow for a 24 hour, virtual response to impending severe
weather conditions.
b. monitor potential impending severe weather conditions and natural disasters
and be prepared to deploy assets to ensure a rapid response.
c. implement the disaster-specific plans to minimize short to intermediate term
disruption in the lives of residents and the operation of the housing operations.
Strategic Goal 4 is aimed at creating disaster-resistant housing authority residential communities. This can be achieved through the taking the following steps:
Objective 4.1: increase the awareness level, degree of cooperation and collaboration among all community stakeholders.
Strategies:
a. collaborate with intergovernmental, other public non-profit agencies, and the
private sector to pre-disaster preparedness plans of action to protect lives and minimize damage to housing authority property.
b. encourage local stakeholders to address the unique resource needs associated with housing authority community.
c. develop organizational and business partnerships to develop a coordinated
response and recovery to severe weather conditions.
d. develop a comprehensive training and education program for housing authority residents to respond to and recover from severe weather conditions.
3.0
The Residential
Community
I. Introduction
A three-step process is needed to properly address the needs of housing authority’s residents. It includes a Demographic Analysis, a Risk Assessment and a Vulnerability Analysis.
The Demographic Analysis involves a thorough examination of the attributes or characteristics of the housing authority’s population.
The Risk Assessment component involves the identification of disasters that are most likely to occur at a particular geographic area. The occurrence and severity oftentimes vary by location. Thus, mitigational steps are sometimes location-specific as
well as disaster-specific.
Using information from the Demographic Analysis and the Risk Assessment, a Vulnerability Analysis must be completed to determine the mitigational steps that are needed and implemented for different segments of the residential community.
A. Demographic Analysis
As reported in the MTCS Resident Characteristics Report (See Appendix 1), approximately 72 percent of public housing residents in Alabama have a average annual income of extremely (30 percent) or very low (50 percent) of median income. The average income is $9,223, 18 percent less than the national average for public housing residents.
Of the 72 percent, the annual income for 68 percent of the residents is below $10,000 per year. Only 32 percent of the income is as the result of earned wages. The Total Tenant Payment (TTP) for 63 percent of the residents is under $200.00 per month,
approximately 22 percent less than the national average.
Of the different family household types, approximately 40 percent of the households are non-elderly with children, non-disabled. Of the other family types, approximately 24 percent are elderly. These figures mirror the national averages.
There is a significant variance in average TTP in family types from the national average
and the state average in non-elderly with children, non-disabled. The state average TTP is $190.00 as compared to a national average of $251.00, 24 percent less than the national average.
Of the total number of household members, approximately 45 percent are under 17 years of age; thirty six percent are 18 to 50 years of age; and 20 percent over 51 years of age. The average household size is approximately 2.2.
In public housing within the state, 35 percent of the tenants have resided in public housing for less than two years; 24 percent between two to five years; and 40 percent for over five years.
B. Risk Assessment
Of the six natural disasters included in the Disaster Management Plan for Alabama’s public housing authorities – Thunderstorm/Lightning, Extreme Heat, Extreme Cold, Tornadoes, Flooding Hurricanes, public housing managers were asked to rank the natural disasters that were most likely to occur in their particular area.
The responses were aggregated up to the county level (See Appendix 2). Of the approximately 50 counties providing responses, Thunderstorm, Extreme Heat and Tornadoes were considered the most likely to occur within their areas.
This information is used to develop a comprehensive risk assessment process. The process includes the following steps
Each natural disaster should be evaluated as to the risks it presents to the public housing authority. Subsequently, a mitigation plan can be developed for the most likely natural disaster to occur in a specific area.
The housing authority should access all available information to identify high potential impact areas for each of natural disaster that might adversely affect the authority. The purpose of this step is to help the housing authority target priority areas.
Output
The analysis focuses on determining the vulnerability of key individual facilities and community resources within the community. Oftentimes, it is not feasible to conduct an analysis on every community asset. Thus, the housing authority should focus on identifying the categories of assets that are “critical” to successfully achieve the disaster management goals of the housing authority.
Also, the critical facilities/assets database should be established to ensure ready access by the housing authority management. The data collected for the dataset may include:
• Resource/Asset type
• Resource/Asset Name
• Street Address
• City
• State
• Zip
• Contact Name
• Contact Title
• 24-hour telephone
This information will allow the housing authority to immediately contact the community asset when a natural disaster occurs.
C. Vulnerability Assessment
This assessment evaluates or compares the information gathered in the Demographic Analysis with the information in the Risk Assessment. The analysis uncovers different levels of vulnerability that exist between the housing authority as compared to community resources or assets. The process includes the following steps:
First analysis identifies segments of the housing authority community in which the vulnerability is high, resources low and community resources is necessary to mitigate the effects of severe weather conditions.
Depending on the type of community resources needed to minimize the adverse effects to vulnerable populations, housing authority management can procure and plan for these resources from the respective agencies within the community too compensate the shortfall in individual resources.
4.0
Thunderstorms/Lightning
I. Introduction
Thunderstorms affect relatively small areas when compared with hurricanes and winter storms. The typical thunderstorm is 15 miles in diameter and lasts an average of 30 minutes. Nearly 1,800 thunderstorms occur at any moment around the world, totaling 16 million a year.
Despite their small size, thunderstorms are dangerous. Every thunderstorm produces lightning, which kills more people each year than tornadoes. Heavy rain from thunderstorms can lead to flash flooding. Strong winds, hail, and tornadoes are also dangers associated with some thunderstorms.
Of the estimated 100,000 thunderstorms that occur each year in the United States, only about 10 percent are classified as severe. The National Weather Service considers a thunderstorm severe if it produces hail at least three fourths inch in diameter, wind 58 mph or higher, or tornadoes.
Lightning occurs with all thunderstorms. They result in an average of 93 deaths and 300 injuries each. Lightning also causes several hundred million dollars in damage to property and forests annually. Thunderstorms are often accompanied by Flash Flooding. Flash Flooding is the number one thunderstorm killer, responsible for nearly 140 fatalities each year. Most flash flood deaths occur at night and when people become trapped in automobiles.
Straight-line winds are responsible for most thunderstorms wind damage. These winds can exceed 100 mph. One type of straight-line wind, the downburst, can cause damage equivalent to a strong tornado and can be extremely dangerous to aviation. During the summer in the western states, thunderstorms often produce little rain but very strong wind gusts and dust storms.
Large hail causes nearly one billion in damage to property and crops annually. In Denver, Colorado, July 11, 1990, the costliest hailstorm occurred, totaling 625 million dollars in damage to property.
II. Thunderstorms: The Fundamentals
Thunderstorms need the following: moisture, unstable air and lift. Moisture is needed to form clouds and rain. Unstable air warms the air forcing it to rise rapidly. Fronts, sea breezes and mountains are capable of lifting air and also help form thunderstorms.
Thunderstorms occur in three stages: the Developing, Mature and Dissipating. The Developing Stage includes towering cumulus clouds that indicate rising air. Little rainfall occurs at this stage. This stage only last about 10 minutes and occasional lightning occurs. The Mature Stage includes hail, heavy rain, frequent lightning, strong winds and tornadoes. The storm occasionally has a black or dark green appearance. This stage lasts an average of 10 to 20 minutes but may last much longer in some storms. During the Dissipating Stage, rainfall decreases in intensity but lightning remains a danger.
Lightning results from the buildup and discharge of electrical energy between positively and negatively charged areas. Rising and descending air within a thunderstorm separates these positive and negative charges. Water and ice particles also affect charge distribution.
A cloud to ground lightning strike begins as an invisible channel of electrically charged air moving from the cloud toward the ground. When one channel nears an object on the ground, a powerful surge of electricity from the ground moves upward to the clouds and produces the visible lightning strike.
Lightning occurs in all thunderstorms: each year lightning strikes the Earth 20 million times. The energy from one lightning flash could light a 100-watt light bulb for more than three months. Most lightning fatalities and injuries occur when people are caught outdoors in the summer months during the afternoon and evening.
Lightning can occur from cloud-to-cloud, within a cloud, cloud-to-ground, or cloud-to-air. Many fires in the western United States and Alaska are started by lightning. The air near a lightning strike is heated to 50,000 F – hotter than the surface of the sun. The rapid heating and cooling of the air near the lightning channel causes a shock wave resulting in thunder.
Take Protective Measures
________________________________________________________________________
Before Thunderstorms and
Lightning
To prepare for a thunderstorm, you should do the following:
• Remove dead or rotting trees and branches that could fall and cause injury or damage during a severe thunderstorm.
• Remember the 30/30 lightning safety rule: Go indoors, if, after seeing lightning, you cannot count to 30 before hearing thunder. Stay indoors for 30 minutes after hearing the last clap of thunder.
_____________________________________________________________
The following are guidelines for what you should do if a thunderstorm is likely in your area:
• Postpone outdoor activities.
• Get inside a home, building, or hard top automobile (not a convertible). Although you may be injured if lightning strikes your car, you are much safer inside a vehicle than outside.
• Remember, rubber-soled shoes and rubber tires provide NO protection from lightning. However, the steel frame of a hard-topped vehicle provides increased protection if you are not touching metal.
• Secure outdoor objects that could blow away or cause damage.
• Shutter windows and secure outside doors. If shutters are not available, close window blinds, shades, or curtains.
• Avoid showering or bathing. Plumbing and bathroom fixtures can conduct electricity.
• Use a corded telephone only for emergencies. Cordless and cellular telephones are safe to use.
• Unplug appliances and other electrical items such as computers and turn off air conditioners. Power surges from lightning can cause serious damage.
• Use your battery-operated NOAA Weather Radio for updates from local officials.
Avoid the following:
• Natural lightning rods such as a tall, isolated tree in an open area
• Hilltops, open fields, the beach, or a boat on the water
• Isolated sheds or other small structures in open area
• Anything metal – tractors, farm equipment, motorcycles, golf carts, golf clubs, and bicycles
During a Thunderstorm
If you are Then:
In a forest Seek shelter in a low area under a thick
growth of small trees.
In an open Go to a low place such as ravine or valley. Be alert for flash floods
On open water Get to land and find shelter immediately.
Anywhere you feel your hair stand on end (when indicates that lightning is about to strike) Squat low to the ground on the alls of your feet. Place your hands over your ears and your head between your knees. Make yourself the smallest target possible and minimize your contact with the ground. DO NOT lie flat on the ground.
5.0
Tornadoes
I. Introduction
Tornadoes are among the most violent natural atmospheric phenomena. The risk of death and injury from tornadoes can be minimized by learning more about them, planning for them, understanding the warning process, and basic safety rules. On average, 1,200 tornadoes are reported in the United Stats each year. While statistics appear to indicate an increase in the occurrence of tornadoes since the 1950s, the trend is more likely due to advances in the observing, reporting, and documentation process.
Most of the increase in tornadoes since the 1950s has been in the weak to moderate categories. The number of violent tornadoes have remained relatively steady. Less than two percent of all tornadoes reach the violent category (wind speeds in excess of 206 mph) but they account for at least two-thirds of all fatalities.
Tornado-related fatalities and injuries decreased during the last half of the twentieth century, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, when the average annual death toll dropped to 55, half of what it was in the 1950s through 1970s. Studies point to a number of factors that have contributed to this decrease, but prominent among them are improvements in detection and warning, increased public awareness, and advances in the delivery of information, especially through electronic media.
In spite of the overall downward trend in fatalities, several events during the late 1990s demonstrated significant vulnerability in certain high-risk situations. When strong or violent tornadoes impact densely populated areas, especially when they pass through
mobile home communities or along heavily traveled roads, or when they occur late at night, numerous fatalities and injuries can occur.
In 1998, tornado-related deaths in the United States totaled 130, including 42 in one central Florida outbreak and 34 in one tornado that struck Birmingham, Alabama. In 1999, one tornado resulted in several fatalities in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. There are lessons to be learned from these events for further mitigation of damage and reduction in casualties.
The primary dangers for humans associated with tornadoes are those produced by extremely high wind, the impact of debris propelled by high wind, destruction of mobile homes, collapse of buildings, and the over-turning or tossing of vehicles. Statistics continue to show a disproportionate number of tornado-related fatalities (as high as 45 percent) in mobile homes.
While tornadoes can occur almost anywhere in the United States at any time of the year, geographical and climatologically factors contribute to an increase in tornado frequency and higher risks in the southeast in late winter and early spring, followed the southern and central plains into the Ohio Valley in spring, and finally the upper Midwest into the Great Lakes during summer. Parts of the plains and Midwest sometimes experience a limited recurrence in the fall.
II. Tornadoes: The Fundamentals
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air, flowing from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, a tornado is often (but not always) visible as funnel cloud. In order for a vortex to be classified as, it must be in contact with the ground and the cloud base.
A tornado appears as a rotating, funnel-shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling that can reach 300 miles per hour. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long.
Some tornadoes are clearly visible, while rain or nearby low-hanging clouds obscure others. Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that little, if any advance warning is possible.
Tornadoes form when warm moist Gulf air meets cold Canadian dry air from the Rockies. The most destructive and deadly tornadoes occur from supercells --
which are rotating thunderstorms with a well-defined radar circulation called a mesocyclone. [supercells can also produce damaging hail; severe non-tornadic winds, unusually frequent lighting, and flash floods.] Tornado formation is believed to be dictated mainly by things which happen on the storm scale.
Tornadoes formation is related to the temperature differences across the edge of downdraft air wrapping around the mesocyclone (the occlusion downdraft). Tornadoes can also form without such temperature patterns; in fact, very little temperature variation was observed near some of the most destructive tornadoes in history on May 3, 1999.
Tornadoes can appear from any direction. Most move from southwest to northeast, or west to east. Some tornadoes have changed direction and path, or even backtracked. [Tornadoes can double back suddenly, for example, when the tornado bottom is hit by outflow winds from a thunderstorm’s core.]
Some areas of the United States tend to have more paths from a specific direction, such as northwest in Minnesota or southeast in coastal south Texas. This is because of an increased frequency of certain tornado-producing weather patterns, hurricanes in south Texas, or northwest-flow weather systems in the upper Midwest.
Tornadoes can be highly unpredictable. Rain, wind, lightning, and hail characteristics vary from storm to storm, from one hour to the next, and even with the direction the storm is moving with respect to the observer. While large hail can indicate the presence of an unusually dangerous thunderstorm, lightning or calmness is not a reliable predictor of tornado threat.
III. Fundamentals for Reducing Risk
Education, planning awareness, prompt application of basic safety rules, and correct choice of shelter are critical elements by which individuals can reduce the risk of death or injury from tornadoes. Experience has demonstrated the importance of understanding the dangers associated with thunderstorms and tornadoes.
It is also important to know the local geography; to develop contingency plans for protection; to keep up to date on the weather situation, especially on severe weather outlooks and watches; and to act promptly on warnings or reports of severe weather. Quick access to current warning information, especially during fast-breaking events, is essential.
Government and community leaders at all levels, even down to the local neighborhood association, can reduce risks by upgrading and enforcing building codes, establishing contingency plans, requiring and providing shelters in mobile home communities and other areas where they are needed, and establishing or upgrading local warning dissemination systems.
A particularly effective element in the warning dissemination process at almost any level of jurisdictions is the emergency operations center (EOC), the focal point for receiving critical information and making timely local warning dissemination decisions.
Owners, managers, directors, and staffs of public and private facilities where large numbers of people are housed or gathered can also play key roles in reducing the risk of tornado-related deaths and injuries. Each facility should have an up-to-date action plan, adequate shelter, an efficient means of receiving warning information, and an effective internal dissemination system.
The EOC analogy can be followed by implementing the “designated weather watcher” concept, whereby an individual is directed to monitor the weather situation and activate the internal warning dissemination system as appropriate.
Builder designers, contractors, and manufacturers can reduce risk by promoting and following upgraded building codes, adhering to sound construction principles recommended by wind engineering experts, and incorporating hardened “safe rooms” or shelters into new and remodeled buildings.
Going above the minimum requirements and using documented techniques for withstanding high wind loads provide an extra measure of safety for the occupants of a building and reduces the chance that parts of a building will become debris that could impact other buildings or individuals. Consumers should demand higher standards from
their contractors and specify a safe room space when designing, purchasing, or leasing a home or building.
IV. Specific Elements for Reducing Risks
A. Education
The more a person understands thunderstorms and their behavior, knows about his or her local geography (e.g., county names, surrounding cities, etc.) and is familiar with severe weather warnings and where to find them, the more likely that person is to survive a tornado.
Much can be learned from qualified meteorologists, weathercasters, and writers in the media who have done so much during the 1980s and 1990s to upgrade the level of basic weather knowledge among the public. There are many excellent weather education sources containing detailed information on thunderstorms and tornadoes. The Web site for the nearest National Weather Service office (available through www.nws.noaa.gov) contains useful information and links to a variety of other sources.
Basic weather knowledge, combined with an understanding of severe weather terminology and dissemination services, can help a person determine the level of threat and the urgency of a situation. For example, someone with a minimal understanding of severe thunderstorms could recognize that a tornado warning stating “radar indicates a severe storm capable of producing a tornado” means that a rotating severe thunderstorm has been detected on Doppler radar, that a tornado could occur in the storm any time, and that safety precautions should be taken.
Knowing the local geography is also helpful when severe weather outlooks, watches, and warnings are issued. Reference maps can be posted or kept near the television along with the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), scanners, etc. Many local officials and media offer severe storm plotting maps indicating county names and boundaries. Individuals should learn the names of their surrounding counties and valuable extra lead time for residents in the “downstream” county.
During threatening weather conditions, travelers need to know the county in which they are located, and the names of nearby towns and other geographical references, National Weather Service warning forecasters and those disseminating warning information should incorporate highways and other well-known references helpful to travelers.
B. Awareness
Part of the daily routine of checking the local weather forecast should include attention to any severe weather potential, especially during climatologically favored seasons. There are many excellent sources of weather information that highlight severe
weather outlooks. These include NOAA Weather Radio, local and cable television programs and local radio programs and Web sites, etc.
The national and local severe weather outlooks issued by the National Weather Service and disseminated through various government and commercial services are extremely valuable sources of information and should be sought out, especially during the favored seasons.
During days with potential for severe weather, forecasts should be monitored frequently for updated information. When severe weather develops, persons in the threatened area should monitor a reliable source of up-to-date information until the threat subsides.
Redundant “first-warning” systems help ensure that timely warning information is received. For example, a family at home might rely both on a Weather Radio and a nearby siren. Devices such as NOAA Weather Radio, sirens, pagers, cell phones, the emergency activation system (EAS), etc., can provide critical early warning. After the initial warning, additional information can be found through television, radio, NOAA Weather Radio, etc.
The effectiveness of all of these systems depends on local availability and broadcast range. Residents in areas where none of these types of systems or services are available should work with local officials to establish some type of first-warning system. Providers of first-warning services should also consider special requirements of hearing – and – sight-impaired persons and those who do not speak English.
Many people have been killed or injured in the relative safety of their home because they were unaware of warning or an approaching tornado. Some of the classic scenarios involve people sleeping, listening to music on a tape or CD, watching cable TV programs, watching a movie video or CD, etc. Others have been caught outdoors, without access to traditional media systems, or in vehicles.
In many of these cases, prior awareness of a tornado threat and the presence of a first-warning device would make the difference. Motorists should not assume that all public and commercial radio stations will carry warning information. During threatening weather situations, a NOAA Weather Radio or the “seek” button on the vehicle’s radio should be actively employed.
C. Basic Safety Rules
Since the primary hazards associated with tornadoes are extremely high wind and debris propelled by the wind, the most fundamental rule is to avoid the wind and debris. Go to the lowest place available in a shelter or sturdy building, away from windows, and get behind as many walls or other obstacles as possible.
If an immediate tornado threat is determined, either through warning or observation, the safest place is a specially built tornado shelter. However, conventional homes and many other buildings, especially those with basements, usually provide at least some degree of shelter. Basic safety rules include going to the basement or other lowest level of the building. The particular part of the basement used is not as important as getting under a sturdy object, away from windows, exterior walls, and garage doors. Interior bathrooms, closets, and storage rooms on the lowest floor are usually the best choices.
If there is not time to get to the lowest floor, the middle of the building is usually safer than near exterior walls, especially those without windows. Hallways can provide more protection than rooms with windows or exterior walls, but under certain circumstances wind flow in hallways that have exterior doors at each end can be enhanced by the wind tunnel effect. Closing interior doors can help impede wind flow through a structure in some cases.
Additional protection in buildings can be provided inside or under some structure or sturdy object such as stairs, a bathtub, a workbench, etc., and by covering oneself with blankets, mattresses, or coats, and even wearing head protection such as bicycle helmets. While the primary rule in a building without a shelter or basement is to go to the lowest, away from outside walls, often the “downstream” portion of a building will be a somewhat safer than the “upstream,” relative to the approaching tornado.
This means that if a tornado moves from southwest to northeast, there will often be less damage to the north section of the building, and more to the south section. Building with large, expansive rooms and walls, such as gymnasiums, auditoriums, churches, factories, supermarkets, large stores, etc., can be dangerous, especially if large numbers of people are present and unable to fit into the few small rooms available. These types of buildings should be avoided if a tornado is imminent.
If there is time, a more substantial structure should be sought. If caught inside one of these large buildings with no time to evacuate, small interior rooms should be used as shelter, if they are available. Otherwise, some protection should be found away from exterior walls and windows, under something sturdy.
Mobile homes should be evacuated for more sturdy shelter if a tornado is imminent. Even the non-tornadic high winds accompanying the thunderstorm could be
strong enough to overturn or destroy a mobile home. The decision about where to go should be based on how much time there is to act and what type of shelters area available.
Certainly, underground shelters are best and should be in place in every mobile home community. If there is no shelter, and there is enough warning lead time, it might be best to evacuate in a vehicle to avoid an approaching tornado to reach a sturdy shelter. Otherwise, it is best to have a sturdy building already in mind for quick access.
The basic rule of avoiding tornado-driven debris should keep motorists, pedestrians, etc., from placing themselves in harm’s way under highway overpasses. In spite of what many people might have seen in videos and photos, highway overpasses do not offer reliable protection from tornado winds and wind-driven debris.
In fact, an overpass can produce a wind tunnel effect, depending on its configuration relative to the tornado. In addition, congregating underpasses during threatening weather conditions creates an extremely dangerous traffic hazard.
The traditional advice given to those outdoors or in mobile homes and vehicles is to lie in a ditch or culvert should be considered as a last resort, to be used only when a tornado cannot be avoided and when quick access to a sturdy building or shelter is impossible.
D. Shelters
Every building, especially in areas of the country with higher frequency of tornadoes, should have a shelter, safe room, or at least some type of tornado-resistant space. It should be kept uncluttered and accessible to all occupants of the building. Shelters in public buildings should be clearly identified and easily accessible.
Information is available regarding shelter and safe room construction and medication, and there are many techniques for raising the level of safety or “hardening” appropriate rooms in existing homes and other buildings. One general source of information is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its Web site (www.fema.gov).
Organizations responsible for constructing a new commercial or public building should certainly include a shelters or at least tornado-resistant areas. Simple construction upgrades such as bolting walls to foundations, using hurricane clips, etc., can make an entire building more tornado- resistant. New shelters, or those added to building through remodeling, should be constructed according to the latest standards, which include the use of reinforced concrete, metal doors with multiple hinges and dead bolts, etc.
Take Protective Measures
If you are in: Then:
A structure (e.g. residence, small building, school, nursing home, hospital, factory, shopping center, high-rise building) Go to a pre-designated shelter area such as safe room, basement, storm cellar, or the lowest building level.
If there is no basement, go to the center of an interior room on the lowest level (closet, interior hallway) away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls, Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside. Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck.
Do not open windows.
A vehicle, trailer, or mobile home Get out immediately and go the lowest floor of a sturdy, nearby building or a storm shelter. Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes.
The outside with no shelter •Lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands. Be aware of the potential for flooding
•Do not get under an overpass or bridge. You are safer in a low, flat location.
•Never try to outrun a tornado in urban or congested areas in a car or truck. Instead, leave the vehicle immediately for safe shelter.
•Watch out for flying debris. Flying debris from tornadoes causes most fatalities and injuries.
6.0
Extreme Heat
I. Introduction
Heat-related deaths and illnesses are preventable yet annually many people succumb to extreme heat. Historically, from 1979 to 1999, excessive heat exposure caused 8,015 deaths in the United States. During this period, more people in this country died from extreme heat than from hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes combined. In 2001, 300 deaths were caused by excessive heat exposure.
People suffer heat-related illnesses when their bodies are unable to compensate and properly cool themselves. The body normally cools itself by sweating. But under some conditions, sweating just isn’t enough. In such cases, a person’s body temperature rises rapidly. Very high body temperatures may damage the brain or other vital organs.
Several factors affect the body’s ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather. When the humidity is high, sweat will not evaporate as quickly, preventing the body from releasing heat quickly. Other conditions related to risk include age, obesity, fever, dehydration, heart disease, mental illness, poor circulation, sunburn, and prescription drug and alcohol use.
Because heat-related deaths are preventable, people need to be aware of who is at greatest risk and what actions can be taken to prevent a heat-related illness or death. The elderly, the very young, and people with mental illness and chronic diseases are at highest risk. However, even young and healthy individuals can succumb to heat if they participate in strenuous physical activities during hot weather. Air-conditioning is the number one protective factor against heat-related illnesses and death. If a home is not air-conditioned, people can reduce their risk for heat-related illnesses by spending time in public facilities that are air-conditioned.
Summertime activity, whether on the playing field or the construction site, must be balanced with measures that aid the body’s cooling mechanisms and prevent heat-related illnesses.
II. Extreme Heat: The Fundamentals
Temperatures that hover 10 degrees or more above the average high temperature for the region and last for several weeks are defined as extreme heat. Humid or muggy conditions, which add to the discomfort of high temperatures, occur when a “dome” of high atmospheric pressure traps hazy, damp air near the ground. Excessively dry and hot
conditions can provoke dust storms and low visibility. Droughts occur when a long period passes without substantial rainfall. A heat wave combined with a drought is a very dangerous situation.
People living in urban areas may be at great risk from the effects of a prolonged heat wave than people living in rural regions. An increased health problem, especially for those with respiratory difficulties, can occur when stagnant atmospheric conditions trap pollutants in urban areas, thus adding unhealthy air to excessively hot temperatures.
In addition, asphalt and concrete store heat longer and gradually releases heat at night, which produces significantly higher nighttime temperature in urban areas known as the “urban heat island effect.”
Hyperthermia is the elevation of body temperature resulting from the body’s inability to dissipate heat. The continued exposure to ambient heat close to body temperature (98.6 F [37.0 C] contributes to a substantial number of deaths from hyperthermia, especially among elderly persons.
To assess the health risk from hyperthermia, the CDC summarized trends in heat-related deaths, and compared age-specific, heat-related deaths in the United States. Findings indicated that, during 1979 -2002, a total of 4,780 heat-related deaths in the United States were attributable to weather conditions.
Public health agencies in communities affected by periods of extreme heat should educate populations at risk (e.g., persons aged > 65 years) and consider designing and implementing location-specific heat response plans (HRPs). Of the 4,686 (98%) heat-related deaths attributed to weather for which age of the decedent was reported, 260 (6%) occurred among children aged < 15 years 2,356 (50%) among persons aged 15-64 years, and 2,070 occurred in 1980 (St. Louis and Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, 1995 (Chicago, Illinois), and 1999 (Cincinnati, Ohio, and Chicago). During that period, the annual rate of heat-related deaths from weather conditions was highest among persons aged > 65 years.
To prevent heat-related illness and death, public health agencies should identify susceptible populations and risk behaviors. Children, elderly persons, and persons without access to air conditioning are at increased risk for heat-related illness and death. In addition, persons, with chronic mental disorders or cardiopulmonary disease and those receiving medications that interfere with salt and water balance, such as diuretics, anti-cholergic agents, and tranquilizers that impair sweating, are at greater risk for heat-related illness and death.
III. Extreme Heat: The Effects
Even short periods of high temperatures can cause serious health problems.
During too much on a hot day, spending too much time in the sun or staying too long in an overheated place can cause heat-related illnesses.
A. Heat Stroke
Heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. The body’s temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down. Body temperature may rise to 106 F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. Heat can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not provided.
Recognizing Heat Stroke
• An extremely high body temperature (above 103 F, orally)
• Red, hot and dry skin (no sweating)
• Rapid, strong pulse
• Throbbing headache
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Confusion
• Unconsciousness
What to Do
If you see any of these signs, you may be dealing with a life-threatening emergency. Have someone call for immediate medical assistance while you begin the victim.
Do the following:
• Get the victim to a shady area.
• Cool the victim rapidly using whatever methods you can. For example, immerse the victim in a tub of cool water; place the person in a cool shower; spray the
victim with cool water from a garden hose; sponge the person with cool water;
or If the humidity is low, wrap the victim a cool, wet sheet and fan him or her vigorously.
• Monitor body temperature, and continue cooling efforts until the body temperature drops t0 101 – 102 F.
• If emergency medical personnel are delayed, call the hospital emergency room for further instructions.
• Do not give the victim fluids to drink.
• Get medical assistance as soon as possible.
Sometimes a victim’s muscles will begin to twitch uncontrollably as a result of heat stroke. If this happens, keep the victim from injuring himself, but do not place any object in the mouth and do not give fluids. If there is vomiting, make sure the airway remains open by turning the victim on his or her side.
B. Heat Exhaustion
Heat exhaustion is milder form of heat-related illness that can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate or unbalanced replacement of fluids. It is the body’s response to an excessive loss of the water and salt contained in sweat. Those most prone to heat exhaustion are elderly people, people with high blood pressure, and people working or exercising in a hot environment.
Recognizing Heat Exhaustion
Warning signs of heat exhaustion include the following:
• Heavy sweating
• Paleness
• Muscle cramps
• Tiredness
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Fainting
The skin may be cool and moist. The victim’s pulse rate will be fast and weak, and breathing will be fast and shallow. If heat exhaustion is untreated, it may progress to heat stroke. Seek medical attention immediately if any of the following occurs:
• Symptoms are severe
• The victim has heart problems or high blood pressure
Otherwise, help the victim to cool off, and seek medical attention if symptoms worsen or last longer than one hour.
What to Do
Cooling measures that may be effective include the following:
• Cool, nonalcoholic beverages, as directed by your physician
• Rest
• Cool shower, bath, or sponge bath
• An air-conditioned environment
• Lightweight clothing
C. Heat Cramps
Heat cramps usually affect people who sweat a lot during strenuous activity. This sweating depletes the body of salt and moisture. The low salt level in the muscles causes painful cramps. Heat cramps may also be a symptom of heat exhaustion.
Recognizing Heat Cramps
Heat cramps are muscle pains or spasms – usually in the abdomen, arms, or legs –
that may occur in association with strenuous activity. If you have heart problems or are on a low-sodium diet, get medical attention for heat cramps.
What to Do
If medical attention is not necessary, take these steps:
• Stop all activity, and sit quietly in a cool place.
• Drink clear juice or a sports beverage.
• Do not return to strenuous activity for a few hours after the cramps subside because further exertion may lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
• Seek medical attention for heat cramps if they do not subside in one hour.
D. Sunburn
Sunburn should be avoided because it damages the skin. Although the discomfort is usually minor and healing often occurs in about a week, more severe sunburn may require medical attention.
Recognizing Sunburn
Symptoms of sunburn are well known: the skin becomes red, painful, and abnormally warm after sun exposure.
What to Do
Consult a doctor if the sunburn affects an infant younger that one year of age or if these symptoms are present:
• Fever
• Fluid-filled blisters
• Severe pain
Also, remember these tips when treating sunburn:
• Avoid repeated sun exposure.
• Apply cold compresses or immerse the sunburned area in cool water.
• Apply moisturizing lotion to affected areas. Do not use salve, butter, or ointment.
• Do not break blisters.
E. Heat Rash
Heat rash is a skin irritation caused by excessive sweating during hot, humid weather. It can occur at any age but is most common in young children.
Recognizing Heat Rash
Heat rash looks like a red cluster of pimples or small blisters. It is more likely to occur on the neck and upper chest, in the groin, under the breasts, and in elbow creases.
What to Do
The best treatment for heat rash is to provide a cooler, less humid environment. Keep the affected area dry. Dusting powder may be used to increase comfort, but avoid using ointments or creams-they keep the skin warm and moist and may make the condition worse.
Treating heat rash is simple and usually does not require medical assistance. Other heat-related problems can be much more severe.
Take Protective Measures
Before Extreme Heat
To prepare for extreme heat, you should:
• Install window air conditioners snugly; insulate if necessary.
• Check air-conditioning ducts for proper insulation.
• Install temporary window reflectors (for use between windows and drapes), such as aluminum foil-covered cardboard, to reflect hear back outside.
• Weather-strip doors and sills to keep cool air in.
• Cover windows that receive morning or afternoon sun with drapes, shades, awnings, or louvers. (Outdoor awnings or louvers can reduce the heat that enters a home by up to 80 percent.)
• Keep storm windows up all year.
During a Heat Emergency
The following are guidelines for what you should do if the weather is extremely hot:
• Stay indoors as much as possible and limit exposure to the sun.
• Stay on the lowest floor out of the sunshine if air conditioning is not available.
• Consider spending the warmest part of the day in public building such as libraries, schools, movie theaters, shopping malls, and other community facilities. Circulating air can cool the body by increasing the perspiration rate of evaporation.
• Eat well-balanced, light, and regular meals. Avoid using salt tablets unless directed to do so by a physician.
• Drink plenty of water. Persons who have epilepsy or heart, kidney, or liver disease; are on fluid-restricted diet or have a problem with fluid retention should consult a doctor before increasing liquid intake.
• Limit intake of alcoholic beverages.
• Dress in loose-fitting, lightweight, and light-colored clothes that cover as much skin a possible.
• Protect face and head by wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
• Check on family, friends, and neighbors who do not have air conditioning and who spend much of their time alone.
• Never leave children or pets alone in closed vehicles.
• Avoid strenuous work during the warmest part of the day. Use a buddy system when working in extreme heat, and take frequent breaks.
7.0
Floods
I. Introduction
A flood is a natural event for rivers and streams. Excess water from snowmelt, rainfall, or storm surge accumulates and overflows onto the banks and adjacent floodplains. Floodplains are lowlands, adjacent to rivers, lakes, and oceans that are subject to recurring floods. Hundreds of floods occur each year, making it one of the most common hazards in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Floods kill an average of 150 people a year nationwide. They can occur at any time of the year, in any part of the country, and at any time of day or night. Floodplains in the U.S. are home to over nine million households. More injuries and deaths occur when people are swept away by floods currents, and most property damage results from inundation by sediment-filled water.
Several factors determine the severity of floods, including rainfall intensity (or other water source) and duration. A large amount of rainfall over a short time span can result in flash flood conditions. A small amount of rain can also result in floods in locations where the soil is saturated from a previous wet period or if the rain is concentrated in an area of impermeable surfaces such as large parking lots, paved roadways, or other impervious developed areas.
Topology and ground cover are also contributing factors for floods. Water runoff is greater in areas with steep slopes and little or no vegetative ground cover. Frequency of inundation depends on the climate, soil, and channel season each year, or in regions where annual flooding is derived principally from snowmelt, the floodplains may be inundated nearly every year.
In regions without extended periods of below-freezing temperatures, floods usually occur in the season of highest precipitation. In areas where flooding is caused by melting snow, and occasionally compounded by rainfall, the flood season is spring or early summer.
II. Floods: Coastal and Inland
Flooding is a common hazard in the United States, affecting over 20,000 local jurisdictions. Several evaluations have estimated that 10 percent of the nation’s land area is subjected to flooding. Some communities have very little land that is identified as exposed to flooding, although others lie entirely within the floodplain.
Floods are fairly specific and predictable in their location, and effective design against floods is less a matter of design concept than of location. A building can be located in such a way that floods will never be a problem; however, floodplains are full of existing buildings.
Flooding is a natural process that may occur in a variety of forms: long duration flooding along rivers that drain large watersheds; flash floods that send a devastating wall of water down a mountain canyon; and coastal flooding that accompanies high tides and on –shore winds, hurricanes, and Nor’easters.
Flooding is only considered a problem when human development is located in flood-prone areas. Problems can result, exposing people to dangerous situations and property to damage, but also disrupting the natural function of floodplains and redirecting surface flows onto lands that are not normally subject to flooding.
The flood hazard can be characterized by a relationship between the depth of flooding and the annual chance of inundation to that depth. Depth, duration, and velocity of water are the primary factors contributing to flood losses. Other impacts associated with flooding that contribute to losses include channel erosion and migration, sediment deposition, bridge scour, and the impact of flood-borne debris.
Flood frequency studies define the flood hazard in terms of the chance that a certain magnitude of flooding is exceeded in any given year. What is commonly called the 100-year flood is not a flood that occurs every year, but is a flood that has a one percent chance of occurring in any year.
Flood magnitude is usually measured as discharge value, flood elevation or depth. For example, the 100-year flood elevation is the elevation at the point of interest that has a one percent annual chance of being exceeded by floodwaters. Using the flood hazard frequency convention, flood hazard is defined by a relation between depth of flooding and annual chance of inundation greater than that depth. This relation is called a depth-frequency curve.
Coastal flooding refers to the inundation of land areas along the oceanic coast caused by sea waters over and above normal tidal action. Coastal flooding is experienced along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, and many larger lakes, including the Great Lakes. Coastal flooding is influenced by storm surges associated with tropical cyclonic weather systems (hurricanes, tropical storms, tropical depressions, and typhoons), extra tropical systems (Nor’easters), and tsunamis (surges induced by seismic activity).
Coastal flooding also is generally characterized by wind-driven waves. Wind-driven waves affect reaches along the Great Lakes shorelines, where wind blowing across the broad expanses of water generate wind-driven waves that can rival those experienced along oceanic coastal shorelines. Some Great Lakes shorelines experience coastal erosion, in part associated with fluctuations in water levels.
Inland flooding is due to the accumulation of runoff from rainfall or snowmelt such that the volume of flow exceeds the capacity of waterway channels and therefore, water spreads out over the adjacent land. Inland flooding flows downstream under the force of gravity.
Inundation, duration, and velocity are functions of many factors, including watershed size and slope, degree of upstream development, soil types, nature and extent of vegetation, steepness of the topography, and characteristics of the storm (or depth of snow pack and rapidity of melting).
III. Floods: The Fundamentals
Flooding occurs when normally dry land is inundated with water (or flowing mud). Flooding may result from: bodies of water overflowing their banks, including artificial ones like dams and levees; structural failure of dams and levees; rapid accumulations of runoff or surface water; hurricane-caused storm surges or earthquake-caused tsunamis; or erosion of a shoreline. Typically, the two parameters of most concern for flood planning are suddenness of onset –in the case of flash floods and dam failures—and flood elevation in relation to topography and structures. Other factors contributing to damage are the velocity or “energy” of moving water, the debris carried by the water, and extended duration of flood conditions. Flooding can happen at any time of the year, but predominates in the winter and early spring due to melting snow, breakaway ice jams, and rainy weather patterns.
All states and territories are at risk from flooding. Apart from a rainy climate, local risk factors, usually present in combination, include:
• Rivers, Streams, and Drainage ways – These are bodies of water often subject to overflowing. The size of the stream can be misleading; small streams that receive substantial rain or snowmelt, locally or upstream, can overflow their banks. High-velocity, low elevation flooding can be dangerous and damaging. Six inches of moving water can knock a person off his or her feet; 12 inches of water flowing at 10 miles per hour carries the force of a 100 mile per hour wind, although the force would be distributed differently on obstacles.
• Dams and Levees – There are 74,053 dams in United States, according to the 1993-1994 National Inventory of Dams. Approximately, one third of these pose a “high” or “significant” hazard to life and property if failure occurs. Structural failure of dams or levees creates additional problems of water velocity and debris.
• Steep Topography – Steep topography increases runoff water velocity and debris flow. Lack of vegetation to slow runoff is another factor. Alluvial
fans, making up twenty to thirty percent of the Southwest region, show these characteristics and face the additional complication of shifting drainage patterns and erosion.
• Cold Climatic Conditions – apart from snowmelt, 35 northern States face flooding problems associated with ice jams. In the Spring, ice breaks away and then collects at constriction points in rivers and streams (i.e., bends, shallows, areas of decreasing slope, and bridges); by trapping water behind it and then later giving way, a nice jam heightens flood levels both upstream and downstream. Ice jams occurring in the fall with “frazil ice” (when a swift current permits formation of ice cover, but ice is carried downstream and attaches to the underside of ice cover there) and in winter when channels freeze solid.
Take Protective Measures
Before a Flood
To prepare for a flood, you should;
• Avoid building in a floodplain unless you elevate and reinforce your home.
• Elevate the furnace, water heater, and electric panel if susceptible to flooding.
• Install “check valves” in sewer traps to prevent flood water from backing up into the drains of your home.
• Construct barriers (levees, beams, floodwalls) to stop floodwater from entering the building.
• Seal walls in basements with waterproofing compounds to avoid seepage.
During a Flood
If a flood is in your area, you should:
• Listen to the radio or television for information.
• Be aware that flash flooding can occur. If there is any possibility of a flash flood, move immediately to higher ground. Do not wait for instructions to move.
• Be aware of streams, drainage channels, canyons, and other areas known to flood suddenly. Flash floods can occur in these areas with or without such typical warnings as rain clouds or heavy rain.
If you must prepare to evacuate, you should do the following:
• Secure your home. If you have time, bring in outdoor furniture. Move essential items to an upper floor.
• Turn off utilities at the main switches or valves if instructed to do so. Disconnect electrical appliances. Do not touch electrical equipment if you are wet or standing in water.
After a Flood
The following are guidelines for the period following a flood:
• Listen for news reports to learn whether the community’s water supply is safe to drink.
• Avoid floodwaters; water may be contaminated by oil, gasoline, or raw sewage. Water may also be electrically charged from underground or downed power lines.
• Avoid moving water.
• Be aware of areas where floodwaters have receded. Roads may have weakened and could collapse under the weight of a car.
• Stay away from downed power lines, and report them to the power company.
• Return home only when authorities indicate it is safe.
• Stay out of any building if it is surrounded by floodwaters.
• Use extreme caution when entering buildings; there may be hidden damage, particularly in foundations.
• Service damaged septic tanks, cesspools, pits, and leaching systems as soon as possible. Damage sewage systems are serious health hazards.
• Clean and disinfect everything that got wet. Mud left from floodwater can contain sewage and chemicals.
8.0
Hurricanes
I. Introduction
The term “hurricane” describes a severe tropical cyclone and sustained winds of 74 miles per hour (mph) or greater that occur along the Gulf of Mexico, or the East Coast, in the Caribbean, or in the Pacific along the west coasts of Mexico and California or near Hawaii. Tropical cyclones in other areas of the world will have different names (e.g., typhoon).
A hurricane is a category of tropical cyclone characterized by thunderstorms and defined surface wind circulation. Hurricanes develop over warm waters and are caused by the atmospheric instability created by the collision of warm air with cooler air.
Hurricane winds blow in a large spiral around a calm center called the eye, which can be 20 to 30 miles wide. When a hurricane nears land, it may bring torrential rains, high winds, storm surges, coastal flooding, inland flooding, and sometimes, tornadoes.
A single hurricane can last for more than two weeks over water and can extend outward 400 miles. The hurricane season for the Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico is June 1st thru November 30th . In a two year period, an average, five hurricanes strike the United States every year. The duration depends on the forward motion of the storm and availability of a warm water source for energy.
Some hurricanes are characterized primarily by water – a rainy or wet hurricane – while others are primarily characterized by – a windy or dry hurricane. Wet hurricanes can flood both coastal and inland areas, even as the storm dissipates in wind strength, while windy hurricanes primarily affect coastal areas with their high and storm surge.
Because hurricanes are large, moving storm systems, they can affect entire states or entire coastlines. Not only will coastal development be affected, but also areas far inland can suffer direct impacts from hurricanes and tropical storms.
Hurricanes can trigger storm surges, tornadoes, and extensive and damaging inland flooding. While storm surges are always a potential threat, more people have died from inland flooding associated with hurricanes in the last 30 years. Intense rainfall, as much as 10 to 12 inches in 48 hours, is not directly related to the wind speed of tropical storms.
In fact, some of the greatest rainfall amounts occur from weaker storms that drift slowly or stall over an area. Inland flooding can be a major threat to communities hundreds of miles from the coast as intense rain falls from these huge tropical air masses.
In terms of wind interaction with buildings, hurricanes create both positive and negative (i.e., suction) pressures. A particular building must have sufficient strength to resist the applied winds loads in order to prevent wind-induced building failure or damage.
Building exposure is based on characteristics of the ground roughness and surface irregularities in the vicinity of a building that influence the wind loading. Exposure can be explained in terms of the roughest terrain and the smoothest. Rough terrain includes urban, suburban, and wooded areas.
Smooth terrain includes flat open terrain with scattered obstructions and areas adjacent to water surfaces in hurricane-prone areas. The smoother the terrain, the greater the wind loads. Important factors regarding building vulnerability include:
• Topography (abrupt changes in topography)
• Building height (relationship between the wind speed and the height of the building above the ground)
• Internal pressure (wind can cause either an increase in the pressure within the building, known as positive pressure, or it can cause a decrease in pressure, known as negative)
• Aerodynamic pressures (interactions between the wind and the building affecting primarily the roof corners)
II. Hurricanes: The Fundamentals
Hurricanes are classified into five categories based on their wind speed, central pressure, and damage potential (see chart). Category Three and higher hurricanes are considered major hurricanes, though Categories One and Two are still extremely dangerous and warrant your full attention.
Scale Number
(Category) Sustained Winds (MPH) Damage Storm Surge
1 74-95 Minimal: Unattached mobile homes, vegetation, and signs 4-5 feet
2 96-110 Moderate: All mobile homes, roofs, small craft; flooding 6-8 feet
3 111-130 Extensive: Small buildings; low-lying roads cut off 9-12 feet
4 131-155 Extreme: Roofs destroyed, trees down, roads cut off, mobile homes destroyed, beach homes flooded 13-18 feet
5 More than 155 Catastrophic: Most buildings destroyed, vegetation destroyed, more roads cut off, homes flooded Greater than 18 feet
Hurricanes can produce widespread torrential rains. Floods are the deadly and destructive result. Slow moving storms and tropical storms moving into mountainous regions tend to produce especially heavy rain. Excessive rain can trigger landslides or mud slides, especially in mountainous regions, flash flooding can occur due to intense rainfall. Flooding on rivers and streams may persist for several days or more after the storm.
The primary hazard agents associated with a hurricane are the high, sustained winds; flooding from storm surge or heavy rains; battering from heavy waves; and a variety of secondary hazards:
• High Winds. The high winds impose significant loads on structures, both direct wind pressure and drag, and tend to propel loose objects at high velocity.
• Flooding. The hurricane can cause many different types of flooding. Along the coast flooding may occur from storm surge, wind-driven water in estuaries and rivers, or torrential rain. The flooding can be still water flooding or velocity flooding caused by wave action associated with wind driven water along the coast. The rainfall associated with a hurricane is on the order of 6 to 12 inches, with higher levels common. The rain may precede landfall by hours and may persist for many hours after landfall, causing severe flooding.
• Heavy Waves. The storm may generate waves up to 25 feet high. These can batter the coastline, causing devastating damage to the shoreline itself and to structures near the shore. The velocity of the water moving back and forth undermines the foundations of building and piers by removing the soil from around them. Debris driven inland by the waves can cause severe structural damage.
Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center and now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. The lists featured only women’s names until 1979. After that, men and women’s names were alternated. Six lists are used in rotation. Thus, the 2001 lists will be used again in 2007.
The only time there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the continued use of the name would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. When this occurs, the name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it.
III. Hurricanes: Glossary of Terms
Tropical Depression – an organized system of clouds and thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 38 MPH (33 knots) or less. Sustained winds are defined as one-minute average wind measured at about 33 ft (10 meters) above the surface.
Tropical Storm – an organized system of strong thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 39-73 MPH (34-63 knots).
Storm Surge – a dome of water pushed onshore by hurricane and tropical storm winds. Storm surges can reach 25 feet high and be 50 – 100 miles wide.
Storm Tide – a combination of storm surge and the normal tide (i.e., a 15 foot storm surge combined with a 2 foot normal high tide over the mean sea live creates a 17 foot storm tide).
Take Protective Measures
Before a Hurricane
To prepare for a hurricane, you should take the following measures:
• Make plans to secure your property. Permanent storm shutters offer the best protection of windows. A second option is to board up windows with five-eighths marine plywood, cut to fit and ready to install. Tape does not prevent windows from breaking.
• Install straps or additional clips to securely fasten your roof to the frame structure.
This will reduce roof damage.
• Be sure trees and shrubs around your home are well trimmed.
• Clear loose and clogged rain gutters and downspouts.
• Determine how and where to secure your boat.
• Consider building a safe room.
During a Hurricane
If a hurricane is likely in your area, you should:
• Listen to the radio or TV for information.
• Secure your home, close storm shutters, and secure outdoor objects or bring them indoors.
• Turn off utilities if instructed to do so. Otherwise, turn the refrigerator thermostat to its coldest setting and keep its doors closed.
• Turn off propane tanks.
• Avoid using the phone, except for serous emergencies.
• Moor your boat if time permits.
• Ensure a supply of water for sanitary purposes such as cleaning and flushing toilets. Fill the bathtub and other large containers with water.
You should evacuate under the following conditions:
• If you are directed by local authorities to do so. Be sure to follow their instructions.
• If you live in a mobile home or temporary structure – such shelters are particularly hazardous during hurricanes no matter how well fastened to ground.
• If you live in a high – rise building – hurricane winds are stronger at higher elevations.
• If you live on the coast, on a floodplain, near a river, or on an inland waterway.
• If you feel you are in danger.
If you are unable to evacuate, go to your wind-safe room. If you do not have one, follow these guidelines:
• Stay indoors during the hurricane and away from windows and glass doors.
• Close all interior doors - secure and brace external doors.
• Keep curtains and blinds closed. Do not be fooled if there is a lull; it could be the eye of the storm – winds will pick up again.
• Take refuge in a small interior room, closet, or hallway on the lowest level.
• Lie on the floor under a table or another sturdy object.
9.0
Winter Storms and
Extreme Cold
I. Introduction
A Winter Storm and Extreme Cold can immobilize an entire region. Even areas that normally experience mild winters can be hit with a major snowstorm or extreme cold. Winter storms can result in flooding, storm surge, closed highways, blocked roads, downed power lines and hypothermia.
A violent snowstorm can cause enormous damage to the people, buildings, and transportation of a community. The Blizzard of 1996 for example, caused $3 billion in damage and 187 deaths in the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions of the United States.
A major winter storm can be lethal. Preparing for cold weather conditions and responding to them effectively can reduce the danger caused by winter storms. A winter storm can range from moderate snow over a few hours to blizzard conditions that last several days. Some winter storms may be large enough to affect several states while other may affect only a single community.
A severe winter storm is one that drops four or more inches of snow during a 12 hour span. An ice storm occurs when freezing rain falls from clouds and freezes immediately on impact. All winter storms make driving and walking extremely hazardous.
When winter temperatures drop significantly below normal, staying warm and safe can become a challenge. Extremely cold temperatures often accompany a winter storm, so you may have to cope with power failures and icy roads. Although staying indoors as much as possible can help reduce the risk of car crashes and falls on the ice, you may also face indoor hazards.
Many homes will be too cold, either due to a power failure or because the heating system is not adequate for the weather. When people must use space heaters and fireplaces to stay warm, the risk of household fires increases, as well as the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Exposure to cold temperatures, whether indoors or outside, can cause other serious or life-threatening health problems. Infants and the elderly are particularly at risk, but anyone can be affected. To keep yourself and your family safe, you should know how to prevent cold-related health problems and what to do if a cold-weather health emergency arises.
The emergency procedures outlined here are not a substitute for training in first aid. However, these procedures will help you to know when to seek medical care and what to do until help becomes available.
II. Winter Storms and Extreme Cold: The Fundamentals
What constitutes extreme cold? The effects can vary across different areas of the country. In regions relatively unaccustomed to winter weather, near freezing temperatures are considered “extremely cold.” Whenever temperatures drop decidedly below normal and as wind speed increases, heat can leave your body more rapidly. This weather related conditions might lead to serious health problems. Extreme cold is a dangerous situation that can bring on health emergencies in susceptible people, such as those without shelter or who are stranded, or who live in a home that is poorly insulated or without heat.
A. Ice
Heavy accumulations of ice can bring down trees and topple utility poles and communication towers. Ice can disrupt communications and power for days while utility companies repair extensive damage. Even small accumulations of ice can be extremely dangerous to motorist and pedestrians. Bridges and overpasses are particularly dangerous because they freeze before other surfaces.
There are four elements involved in the formation of ice: rain, freezing rain, sleet and
snow:
- Rain: frozen precipitation melts into rain
- Freezing Rain: frozen precipitation melts in warm air…rain falls and freezes on cold surfaces as a sheet of ice
- Sleet: frozen precipitation melts…refreezes into sleet before hitting ground
- Snow: snow falling into cold air never melts
B. Snow
Heavy snow can immobilize a region and paralyze a city, stranding commuters, and closing airports, stopping the flow of supplies, and disrupting emergency and medical services. Accumulations of snow can cause roofs to collapse and knock down trees and power lines. Homes and farms may be isolated for days and unprotected livestock may be lost. In the mountains, heavy snow can lead to avalanches. The cost of snow removal, repairing damages, and the loss of business can have severe economic impacts on cities and towns.
There are four different types of snow storms:
- Blizzard: Winds of 35 mph or more with snow and blowing snow reducing visibility to less than ¼ mile for at least three hours.
- Blowing snow: Wind-driven snow that reduces visibility. Blowing snow may be falling snow and/or snow on the ground picked up by the wind.
- Snow squalls: Brief, intense snow showers accompanied by strong, gusty winds. Accumulation may be significant.
- Snow Showers: Snow falling at varying intensities for brief periods of time. Some accumulation is possible.
- Snow Flurries: Light snow falling for short durations with little or no accumulation.
C. Winter Flooding
Winter storms can generate coastal flooding, ice jams and snow melt, resulting in significant damage and loss of life. They can be defined as follows:
- Coastal Floods: Winds generated from intense winter storms can cause widespread tidal flooding and severe beach erosion along coastal areas.
- Ice jams: Long cold spells can cause rivers and lakes to freeze. A rise in the water level or a thaw breaks the ice into large chunks which become jammed at man made and natural obstructions. Ice jams can act as a dam, resulting in severe flooding.
- Snow Melt: Sudden thaw of a heavy snow pack often leads to flooding.
III. Winter Storms and Extreme Cold: Glossary of Terms
- Wind Chill: is a calculation of how cold it feels outside when the actual
temperature and the speed of the wind are combined. A strong wind combined with a temperature of just below freezing can have the same effect as still-air temperature about 35 degrees colder.
- Frostbite: is damage to body tissue caused by extreme cold. A wind chill of 20 Fahrenheit (F) will cause frostbite in just 30 minutes. Frostbite causes a loss of feeling and a white or pale appearance in extremities, such as fingers, toes, ear lobes or the tip of the nose.
- Hypothermia: is a condition brought on when the body temperature drops to
less that 95 F. It can kill. For those who survive, there are likely to be lasting kidney, liver and pancreas problems. Warning signs include uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness and apparent exhaustion.
Take Protective Measures
Before Winter Storms and
Extreme Cold
Include the following in your disaster supply kit:
• Rock salt to melt ice on walkways
• Sand to improve traction
• Show shovels and other snow removal equipment.
Prepare for possible isolation in your home by having sufficient heating fuel; regular fuel sources may be cut off. For example, store a good supply of dry, seasoned wood for your fireplace or wood-burning stove.
Winterize your home to extend the life of your fuel supply by insulating walls and attics, caulking and weather-stripping doors and windows, and installing storm windows or covering windows with plastic.
To winterize your car, attend to the following:
• Battery and ignition system should be in top condition and battery terminals clean.
• Ensure antifreeze levels are sufficient to avoid freezing.
• Ensure the heater and defroster work properly.
• Check and repair windshield wiper equipment; ensure proper washer fluid level.
• Check lights and flashing hazard lights for serviceability.
• Check for leaks and crimped pipes in the exhaust system; repair or replace as necessary. Carbon monoxide is deadly and usually gives no warning.
• Check breaks for wear and fluid levels.
• Check oil for level and weight. Heavier oils congeal more at low temperatures and do not lubricate as well.
• Consider snow tires, snow tires, or chains.
• Replace fuel and air filters. Keep water out of the system by using additives and maintaining a full tank of gas.
Dress for the Weather:
• Wear several layers of loose fitting, lightweight, warm clothing rather than one layer of heavy clothing. The outer garments should be tightly woven and water repellent.
• Wear mittens, which are warmer than gloves.
• Wear hat.
• Cover youth with a scarf to protect your lungs.
During a Winter Storm
The following are guidelines for what you should do during a winter storm or under conditions of extreme cold:
• Listen to your radio, television, or NOAA Weather Radio for weather reports and emergency information.
• Eat regularly and drink ample fluids, but avoid caffeine and alcohol.
• Avoid overexertion when shoveling snow. Overexertion can bring on a heart attack-a major cause of death in the winter. If you must shovel snow, stretch before going outside.
• Watch for signs of frostbite. These include loss of feeling and white or pale appearance in extremities such as fingers, toes, ear lobes, and the tip of the nose. If symptoms are detected, get medical help immediately.
• Watch for signs of hypothermia. These include uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness, and apparent exhaustion. If symptoms of hypothermia are detected, get the victim to warm location, remove wet clothing, and warm the center of the body first, and give warm, non-alcoholic beverages if the victim is conscious. Get medical help as soon as possible.
• Conserve fuel, if necessary, by keeping your residence cooler than normal. Temporarily close off heat to some rooms.
• Maintain ventilation when using kerosene heaters outside and keep them at least three feet from flammable objects.
• Drive only if it is absolutely necessary. If you must drive, consider the following:
- Travel in the day, don’t travel alone, and keep others informed of your schedule
- Stay on main roads; avoid back road shortcuts.
If a blizzard traps you in the car, keep these guidelines in mind:
• Pull off the highway. Turn on hazard lights and hang a distress flag from the radio antenna or window.
• Remain in your vehicle where rescuers are most likely to find you. Do not set out on foot unless you can see a building close by where you know you can take shelter. Be careful, distances are distorted by blowing snow. A building may seem close, but be too far to walk to in deep snow.
• Run the engine and heater about 10 minutes each hour to keep warm. When the engine is running, open an upwind window slightly for ventilation. This will protect you from possible carbon monoxide poisoning. Periodically clear snow from the exhaust pipe.
• Exercise to maintain body heat, but avoid overexertion. In extreme cold, use road maps, seat covers, and floor mats for insulation. Huddle with passengers and use your coat for a blanket.
• Take turns sleeping. One person should be awake at all items to look for rescue crews.
• Drink fluids to avoid dehydration.
• Be careful not to waste battery power. Balance electrical energy needs-the use of lights, heat, and radio-with supply.
• Turn on the inside light at night so work crews or rescuers can see you.
• If stranded in a remote area, stomp large block letters in an open area spelling out HELP or SOS and line with rocks or tree limbs to attract the attention of rescue personnel who may be surveying the area by airplane.
Leave the car and proceed on foot-if necessary-once the blizzard passes.
10.0
Monitoring, Alert and
Warning System
I. Introduction
Disasters caused by weather, climate and water-related hazards’ impact on communities have resulted in loss of loss of human life, destruction of social economic infrastructure and degradation of property. One of the most effective measures minimize the destructive effects of natural disasters is to implement a well-functioning early warning system that delivers accurate and dependable information in a timely manner.
Extreme weather conditions highlight just how susceptible we are to the elements, and force society to question the risks associated with such weather. They also raise the important issue of how these risks can be communicated to different groups of people and who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the messages have been heard and understood.
To identify an anticipate natural disasters that threaten communities, a mechanism for real-time data collection and interpretation must be readily available to and usable to executive directors, residents, emergency workers, and policy makers.
Early warning systems (EWS) operate on a very simple operation framework. Precursors or indicators to events (natural disasters) are monitored on a continuous basis. Data is analyzed to form a general forecast. If there is a forecast of a large severe weather event, a warning is issued. The EWS process takes the following format:
There are four essential elements to making severe weather warnings effective: predicting what will happen; interpreting the predictions; constructing a message to the public relevant authorities; and carry out protective steps. Being able to predict a severe weather event (or the probability of the event happening) is the first crucial step of severe weather communications.
The early warning system must not only provide information to the general public, but also tailor the message so that it is understandable to residents of housing authorities.
It is also vital that severe weather warnings communicate the level of uncertainty within the forecast itself to ensure that people take notice and can prepare themselves. This raises further difficulties of understanding how likely an event is and deciding upon a suitable course of action.
This means not only do severe weather warnings have to be clear in terms of the type of weather that residents of housing authorities can understand but also how likely it will occur.
The probability of a severe weather happening in a certain way to ensure the relevant audience understands it and can make appropriate decisions accordingly. For example, expressing probability as percentage rather than using words such as “may, might and could” has more of an impact and presents a clearer message.
A major problem of issuing severe weather warnings is that the probability of the most extreme weather events occurring is very low; this means that warning of severe weather that could cause the most damage are not always taken as seriously as they should be because they appear to be very unlikely.
Therefore, decision-making for severe weather conditions should be related not just to the probability of occurrence but to the impact of the natural disaster.
Early warning systems must utilize principles of economics and human behavior to enhance communications, trust, and understanding within the community to promote “risk wise” behavior. To be effective, natural disaster information (e.g., forecasts and warnings) must be communicated to a population that understands and trust the messages.
The at-risks and vulnerable population, residents of housing authorities, must respond appropriately to the information. As evidenced in other natural disaster conditions, this can present a significant challenge to the management of housing authorities and also to other community leaders.
II. Alerts, Monitoring and Warning: A Technological-based Approach
Early Alerts, Monitoring and Warnings represent multi-layered approach toward achieving the goal of preventing the loss of life, minimizing property damage and decreasing the likelihood of operational disruption. These three form a logical, sequential approach to accomplishing the goals.
In the event of severe and dangerous weather conditions, the management and residents of the housing authority must first be made aware or alerted along with the entire community. Once alerted, the severe weather conditions must be monitored to determine the likelihood of the dangerous weather affecting the local community. The ongoing efforts provide the basis for the community’s action to achieve the aforementioned goals.
Depending on the severity and likelihood of the weather conditions’ adverse effects on the community, the management and residents must be warned to take appropriate steps to achieve the goals of preventing the loss of life, minimizing property damage and decreasing disruption to the operations of the housing authority.
In the past, many communities used television, radios and other means to alert communities threatened by severe and dangerous weather conditions. The public are so attuned to the media for news and entertainment during normal waking hours, this has been a rather effective means of warning for most weather events.
However, the need for warning of rapidly moving threats is problematic, particularly when people are sleeping or away from their favorite media or news source. Currently on the market are many devices and technological solutions for warning around the clock if considered affordable by the community and/or purchased by the housing authority.
A. NOAA Weather Radio – The Voice of the National Weather Service
In the United States, the NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] Weather Radio (NWR) is a classic example of an inexpensive alerting device. This warning means has been around for years and is considered highly dependable for warnings of severe weather.
NOAA Weather Radio is the best way to receive warnings from the National
Weather Service. NOAA Weather Radio is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information direct from a nearby Weather Service office.
NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard information 24-ours a day. The average reception range is 40-mile radius from the transmitter, depending on topography.
The NOAA Weather Radio network has more than 650 transmitters, covering the 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Pacific Territories. NOAA Weather Radio requires a special radio receiver or scanner capable of receiving the signal.
Broadcasts are found in the public service band at these seven frequencies (MHz):
NOAA Weather Radio Bands
Channel Frequencies (MHz)
1 162.400
2 162.425
3 162.450
4 162.475
5 162.500
6 162.525
7 162.550
NOAA Weather Radio requires a special or scanner capable of picking up the signal.
The downside until recently was that the warning alert went to a large portion of a respective geographical area – this was intolerable to some people because they were awakened at 3:00 AM when the warning posed no threat to their immediate area of the county or region.
As a result of this lack of geographic specificity, some people have unplugged the warning devices and stuck them away – out of sight, out of mind, and of no value for warning.
To counter this weakness, the National Weather Service undertook a national implementation of the new Specific Area Message Encoding/Emergency Alert System (SAME/EAS). The NWS encourages people to use a weather radio equipped with SAME/EAS0 feature. This feature automatically alerts you when important information on NOAA Weather Radio is available from your local NWS office or at www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr.
Of late, only 13 percent of households use the NOAA Weather Radio. National Weather Service’s goal is to increase to approximately 95 percent in the upcoming years.
The NWS believe that the improvements and broader application of warning will bring more and more individuals and their families to use and rely on the all hazard warning radio as the public becomes more informed of the availability of this means of warning.
However, this is dependent on individuals and their understanding of the need for warning as vital to the public awareness of impending threats and their responsibility for their own personal safety. It is important that individual citizens around the world understand their safety and well-being, as well as of their families, depend on being alert to their surroundings, receiving timely warnings, knowing what to do to protect themselves and survive w | 
Disaster Plan
