Hurricane Matthew Update 10-10-16 - DAMAGE ASSESSMENT INFO

Team Norfolk,

Today has been a busy day!!  Much has been done to capture, clear and otherwise bounce back from Hurricane Matthew.  Here is the full report:

Shelter
Closed at 11am.

Facilities
All facilities are on line, although there are several which had experienced leaking.  General Services custodial crews have been working to remedy the issue.

Again, Team Norfolk partner agencies are encourage to report any damages to the Norfolk EOC for inclusion in the City’s documentation.

Roads and Underpasses
With the help of some outstanding State support with 3 Marine Incident Response Team (MIRT) pumps, the underpasses are almost de-watered!  More to follow. See pic of this great Team Norfolk collaboration attached below!

Item of note: the rain gauge at the Brambleton underpass registered 17” of rain.

There has also been much focus on the movement of abandoned vehicles.  At last count there have been over 110 vehicles towed with more to follow.  

For a bird’s eye view of flooded roads and vehicle, click here for a drone video shot and produced by the very talented John Ehlers.  To provide some context, some video was captured Sunday morning and much during the afternoon’s high tide.  (Remember, rainfall had already ceased during the morning hours).  Focus was on flooded areas, the results of driving in flooded areas, and how filthy the water can be (and dangerous to play in). 

Trees
The Urban Forestry crews of Recreation Parks and Open Space (RPOS) are working tirelessly to address now the 200+ downed and damaged trees throughout the community.    In addition to RPOS’ 5 crews, they brought in 5 contractor groups.  A request has also been submitted to the Virginia EOC (VEOC) for more capacity to complete this difficult mission as quickly as possible.

Power
At last check there are 11,200 Dominion customers without power, 1,400 fewer than last report.  This includes three Norfolk Public Schools: Bayview, Ingleside and Larchmont.

Damage Assessment Strategies
The City’s Damage Assessment teams have hit the streets all day identifying and documenting damages.  With 66% of the census tracks complete, we have 1 property destroyed, 10 with major damage, 23 with minor damage and 7 affected.  For a better understanding of these definitions, check out VDEM’s Individual Assistance Damage Assessment Guidelines. 

Federal Assistance
Update on the threshold for federal assistance.  Since the new federal fiscal year has begun October 1, the threshold has changed from $3.57 per capita to $3.61.  Therefore, Population (242,803) x per capita indicator (now $3.61)  = a threshold of 876,519 (was $866,807) to be eligible for federal assistance – still a very good possibility with this incident.

Constant reminder: All agencies are to document/track all incident-related costs!!

Also, it is important to remember that while we’re still under a local and Governor’s declaration that does not mean instant “FEMA money.”  The process in place as outlined by the Robert T. Stafford Act is this: the locality must submit an initial damage assessment within 72 hours of the incident (by Wednesday).  If the locality meets the damage threshold, the Governor will submit a request to the President asking for a Presidential declaration.  The President may declare an emergency or a major disaster, each offering a variety of assistance and services.  Key point, however, a local declaration, or even a Governor’s request, does not guarantee a Presidential declaration.  Please pass the word!

Communication / Messaging
Declaration does not mean FEMA assistance.

Norfolk Public Health has excellent information on post-flood cleanup as well as post-power outage food spoilage at http://www.norfolk.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27186.

Matthew should serve as a reminder not to drive in flooded water.  It has proven the result is not only a threat to life and personal property, but also hampers public safety response times.

While cleaning up from the storm, please do not put debris in the street.  This will impact city services and exacerbate future flooding by clogging storm drains.

Again, all storm-related updates are posted to Norfolk.gov, social media and Channel 48.

City of Norfolk at Normal Operations Tuesday.

As with all other incidents, we continue to critique our response efforts to identify best practices on which we can build as well as areas of improvement.  Please contribute to this discussion and offer any input, questions or concerns.  Only with your feedback can we build stronger as a Team.

Thank you!

Jim
Director, Norfolk EOC
james.redick@norfolk.gov