Hurricane Matthew Update 10-12-16 @ 10am Recovery / Damage Assessment Info

Team Norfolk,

I want to first share with you the thanks, pride and appreciation shared by Mayor Alexander, our members of City Council and City Manager Mr. Jones yesterday during both informal and formal Council meetings yesterday.  The Team’s efforts – large or seemingly “insignificant”, all critical, of which, together and in unity – are noticed.

Forecast

From our friend, Skip Stiles, Executive Director of Wetlands Watch: “This weekend, starting with the mid-morning Friday high tide, we'll see tidal waters up about 2' above the full moon high tide level. This will be around where the tidal water was last week before the rainfall came - think last Thurs or Friday. Luckily, there is no rain in the forecast so most of the flooding will be limited to the usual waterside places… This is not just Southern Hampton Roads - the tide projections on the Peninsula and Middle Peninsula are up as well. The reason is these are the higher tides we get each Sept/Oct/Nov on a full moon because the moon is closest to the earth right now.”  Tide chart provided below; Friday morning high tide is scheduled for 7:07am.

Roads and Underpasses
The Virginia Beach Blvd and the Brambleton underpasses have been de-watered.  Because the permanent pumps at both sites were destroyed, temporary pumps are necessary to pump rainfall as well as prevent ground water intrusion until they can be replaced.  The Va Beach underpass is now open with one eastbound lane restricted to accommodate the temporary pump.  The hope is to have the  Brambleton underpass re-opened later today, and this too will have one eastbound lane restricted.

The movement of abandoned vehicles is still underway.  Over 120 vehicles towed; 36 retrieved.

Note: there has been an unaffiliated and unauthorized tow company acting independently moving vehicles on Hampton Blvd.  They are not a part of the network of tow companies with whom the City has been working and have not been following the regulations – to including contacting the vehicle owners.  Those vehicle owners are being encouraged to contact and file a stolen vehicle report with Norfolk Police.

Trees
The Urban Forestry crews of Recreation Parks and Open Space (RPOS) are working tirelessly to address now the 400+ downed and damaged trees throughout the community.   It is important to note the 400+ does not mean all downed trees; rather, total for downed and damaged (which could be a broken and hanging limb). 

An effective joint effort is underway between Norfolk Public Works and Recreation, Parks and Open Space.  Together, along with their anticipated volunteer and contract support, they are focused on clearing trees out of roadways, etc, and then going back to cut into 8’ blocks for removal.  Priority is still trees on roadways, homes and then cars. 

Power
At last check earlier this morning there are 1,135 (out of 96,907) Dominion customers without power.

Note reminder from Fire Chief Wise: When losing power, be sure to turn off any utilities or other appliances especially if leaving the home!  For those who lose power, particularly for an extended period of time, they forget what they were doing when the power is lost – and those things will restart once power is restored.  This was the cause of a recent fire.

Food Establishments

Per Public Health Director Dr. Lindsay and Senior Environmental Health Manager Norm Grefe: “[P]rior to the heavy rains, in preparation notification reminders were sent to all food facilities regarding important information and practices to ensure food safety…Environmental health began their storm response activities Sunday afternoon, which consisted of Environmental Health Specialists calling food establishments to conduct preliminary assessments, especially in areas with confirmed flooding and/or loss of electricity. A preliminary field assessment was also conducted late Sunday afternoon, which also informed decisions as to where to concentrate resources. On Monday we began field surveys of restaurants in a number of areas including Monticello Avenue, North Military Highway, East Little Creek/Tidewater Drive, and West Little Creek Road. Wards Corner was a primary focus given the large number of food establishments concentrated in this area, which was without power until late yesterday afternoon.  Environmental Health staff worked with food service operators [Monday] night and again [Tuesday] morning to get their establishments back open as quickly and as safely as possible. [Tuesday] we’ve been following up with additional field surveys.  I estimate we’re around 80% completed with our surveys; we’ve encountered a few facilities that, due to the extent of flooding, hope to be open again by the end of the week.”  Norm also reports that facilities have been highly cooperative and attentive to following good practices in coming back on line for the safety of the public.

Disaster-Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (DSNAP)
In order for this program to be available, a Presidential Declaration of Emergency must be made.  That has not occurred as of yet (see below).  For current consumers of the SNAP program, Norfolk Human Services will work to replace those benefits lost.  For those requesting assistance who are not currently receiving SNAP benefits, they will be referred to the Food Bank.

RUMOR ALERT:  Some have heard people are going to the Scope to receive or otherwise register for DSNAP benefits.  This is false.  There are no such DSNAP operations underway at Scope or anywhere else.

Damage Assessment Information

Residential / Commercial Properties
Reports as of this morning indicated 425 structures damaged so far having a value slightly north of $11M (hope is to have all complete by afternoon).  This is residential and commercial structures (i.e. private property).  How the value of damages is determined is as follows:  As the assessments are entered, an algorithm pulls the assessed value of the structure and makes a calculation based on based on category: destroyed=100%, major=75%, minor=50% and affected=25%.  To better understand the various classifications of damage in the assessments, please check out VDEM’s Individual Assistance Damage Assessment Guidelines. 

Government infrastructure begins with $2M for the destroyed pumps at the underpasses, with more to come reflective of pre-storm prep activities, staff incident-related time, contractor support costs, volunteer efforts, facility and equipment usage, shelter operations.  To better understand the Public Assistance Damage Assessment Guidelines, click here.  It is important to understand it is the Government preparatory actions, damages and response efforts which have the threshold of $876,519.  While the locality submits Initial Damage Assessment information within 72 hours of the incident (later today), the State compiles the information from all affected localities and has a State-wide threshold of approximately $11M.

 !!!IMPORTANT FOR CITY DEPARTMENTS!!!

Per Roy Staton, Risk Manager:

 1.      We need an initial Dept. estimate by 4:00 PM TODAY (Wed. Oct 12).  For this initial estimate, please provide a credible projection of known or anticipated expense to date.  Include:

• Labor: Regular, Emergency Overtime, on-call, costs; A “benefit rate” to be applied to emergency labor costs will be established and published at a later date if it appears federal assistance will become available.
• Equipment used;  Costs of operating; consider the types of equipment, location, hours and crews.  Cost estimates from previous events might be helpful in reaching this initial estimate.
• Contracts: i.e. debris, building and equipment repairs, temporary labor, etc.
• Other procurement & in-house repairs: materials, supplies, food, etc.  Be sure and separate costs related to emergency and recovery work.

2.      Following this initial estimate, we will begin developing detailed documentation to refine and support our costs over the duration of the recovery effort.  Please continue to use the financial reporting code OCT2016 when inputting documents (PO, DO, GAX, etc.) for purchases related to this storm event, and the payroll reporting codes sent by Human Resources on Oct. 1 for wages for work performed in response to the emergency event.  This will help document expenses that might become eligible for reimbursement under FEMA and VDEM guidelines.

 3.      Please distribute this email to the appropriate persons in your respective departments and operating units.  Also, please let me know who will be your principle coordinator for the status of, and follow-up on, the departmental cost data.

 

Information / Messaging

Norfolk Cares IMPACT Center reports the following:

652 Calls Received by the IMPACT Center on 10/10/16

Storm Related Calls
Call Type	Total # of Related Calls
Flooded Streets	6
Trees/Limbs Down Blocking Street/ROW	68
Downed Lines	15
Downed City Trees causing Private Property Damage	21
Standing Water in Yard	1
Debris Blocking Street	2
City Sign Knocked Down	3
Traffic Light not Operating	3
Abandoned Vehicle	4
Downed City Tree/Limbs not Blocking Street	27
Vehicle stuck in Brambleton Underpass	1
Storm Drain Cave-In	2
Sinkhole	9
Clogged Storm Drain	12
Downed Tree on Reservoir	2
Flooded Ditch	3
Which Streets/Areas are Flooded	1
Water Main Break	3

822 Calls Received by the IMPACT Center on 10/10/16

Storm Related Calls
Call Type	Total # of Related Calls
Flooded Streets	2
Trees/Limbs Down Blocking Street	15
Downed Lines	4
Downed City Trees causing Private Property Damage	7
Debris Blocking Sidewalk	1
City Sign Knocked Down	4
Abandoned Vehicle	10
Downed City Tree/Limbs not Blocking Street	18
Storm Drain Cave-In	1
Sinkhole	2
Clogged Storm Drain	5
Downed Tree on Reservoir	3
Flooded Ditch	1
Downed Utility Poles	1

 

Focus Topics and Important Phone Numbers:

Non-Emergency Inquiries to call IMPACT at 664-6510

Food Losses for those eligible to call Human Services at 664-6000

For information on towed vehicles call 441-1062

Yard debris instructions / removal expectations (available here).

All updates posted to Norfolk.gov, Social Media, Channel 48 and available at Norfolk Cares IMPACT Center at 664-6510.

 

Thanks!

 

Jim

Director, Norfolk EOC

james.redick@norfolk.gov