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
