AMU Emergency Management Original Public Safety

EDM Wednesday Briefing: Red Flag Warnings for Portions of Northern California

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Emergency and disaster management briefing for November 7, 2018: A severe weather system produced tornadoes across several states overnight Monday night into Tuesday, a sixth body has been pulled from the rubble of the two buildings that collapsed in France, clean up began in Mississippi following a night of severe weather that spawned at least two damaging tornadoes, erroneous data collection by sensors on the deadly Lion Air passenger plane crash in Indonesia may have sent the plane plummeting into the ocean, two train stations in Spain reopened following evacuations for a security alert for a suspicious device, thousands of gallons of jet fuel spill at Cleveland Hopkins after an accident involving a fuel tanker, the Manhattan subway bombing suspect was found guilty of all charges, and fire restrictions remain across Southern California as the state’s wildfire season draws to a close.

  1.  A severe weather system that stretched from Texas into Canada overnight Monday to Tuesday [link url=”https://weather.com/news/news/2018-11-06-severe-tornado-storms-south/” title=”spawned several tornadoes in multiple states”], including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. One woman died and two others were injured in Christiana, Tennessee, when a tornado ripped through several homes and collapsed a barn that critically injured two horses who then had to be euthanized. In a preliminary assessment, the National Weather Service [link url=”https://weather.com/news/news/2018-11-06-severe-tornado-storms-south/” title=”estimated the tornado to be an EF-2″], with a wind speed of about 135 mph.  

  2. Search teams have pulled [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-building-collapse/sixth-body-found-under-collapsed-buildings-in-french-city-of-marseille-idUSKCN1NC0NF” title=”a sixth body from the rubble of the double building collapse”] that occurred in Marseille, France early Monday morning. In total, emergency teams have now found the bodies of four men and two women, but authorities indicated that as many as eight people could be buried under the rubble. Rescue teams have stated that the collapse de-stabilized nearby buildings, making the search more complicated and [link url=”https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46111126″ title=”forcing firefighters to tear down a third building”]. 

  3. Amid clear blue skies on Tuesday morning, residents in Tupelo, Mississippi surveyed damage and began the monumental task of cleaning up following a night of severe weather that [link url=”http://www.djournal.com/news/update-crews-assess-damage-after-possible-overnight-tornadoes/article_d6bc3c62-fe3c-5094-af16-a32b0cacfee4.html” title=”produced at least two damaging tornadoes”]. Initial estimates by the National Weather Service categorize the two tornadoes, which occurred in separate counties, as at least EF-1s. There were no injuries or deaths associated with either tornado–both of which largely followed the same track as the devastating 2014 tornadoes–[link url=”http://www.djournal.com/news/update-crews-assess-damage-after-possible-overnight-tornadoes/article_d6bc3c62-fe3c-5094-af16-a32b0cacfee4.html” title=”but significant damage occurred in Tupelo to homes and an assisted living facility”]. 

  4. Indonesia authorities have [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-crash/indonesia-extends-search-for-victims-of-jet-crash-idUSKCN1NC1IO” title=”extended the search for a second time for victims and debris from the downed Lion Air passenger jet”] that slammed into the sea on October 29. One black box has been recovered from the crash of the Boeing 737 Max airplane, the data recorder, but searchers are still looking for the cockpit voice recorder. [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-crash/indonesia-extends-search-for-victims-of-jet-crash-idUSKCN1NC1IO” title=”Data retrieved from the box points to erroneous data indications from sensors”], known as angle of attack sensors, which help determine the pitch of the airplane–and if it is too high relative to the current of air (forward air speed)–in order to prevent an aerodynamic stall.  

  5. Two separate train stations in Spain were evacuated by police order on Wednesday after a security alert regarding [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-security/services-at-madrid-barcelona-train-stations-disrupted-by-security-alerts-idUSKCN1NC0ZR” title=”a possible explosive device that was found in a suitcase”]. The main train station, Barcelona Sants, was the first station evacuated after finding the suspect device, and then police called for the evacuation of Madrid’s Atocha station, [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-security-atocha/madrids-atocha-train-station-evacuated-on-police-order-renfe-idUSKCN1NC14O” title=”although no specific reason was given for that evacuation”]. The evacuation and shutdown impacted [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-security/services-at-madrid-barcelona-train-stations-disrupted-by-security-alerts-idUSKCN1NC0ZR” title=”two of Spain’s high speed train lines”], which were later reopened when Catalan police determined there was no threat.  

  6. An accident involving a jet fuel tanker early Tuesday morning at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, in Cleveland, Ohio, caused [link url=”https://www.foxnews.com/travel/fuel-tanker-at-cleveland-airport-spills-5g-gallons-of-jet-fuel” title=”thousands of gallons of jet fuel to spill onto the tarmac”]. The fuel tanker collided with another vehicle near a hangar at around 5:30 a.m., which resulted in the spill, but there were no reported injuries and flight operations were not affected. [link url=”https://www.foxnews.com/travel/fuel-tanker-at-cleveland-airport-spills-5g-gallons-of-jet-fuel” title=”Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF), the Cleveland Fire Department (CFD), environmental and Hazmat crews were on scene”] to provide assistance and assess the impact, and a private environmental company was hired to perform the clean up of the approximately 5,5000 gallons of jet fuel. 

  7. The suspect who [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-islamicstate-ullah/manhattan-subway-bomber-found-guilty-of-supporting-islamic-state-idUSKCN1NB2ML” title=”detonated a bomb in a Manhattan subway passage”] last December has been found guilty of all six criminal counts against him. The verdict came Tuesday for the Bangladeshi man, Akayed Ullah, 28, accused of detonating the bomb in support of Islamic State, and could carry a life sentence in prison. Three people suffered minor injuries when the bomb–[link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-islamicstate-ullah/manhattan-subway-bomber-found-guilty-of-supporting-islamic-state-idUSKCN1NB2ML” title=”fastened from a pipe with screws as shrapnel”]–was set off in a tunnel connecting two stations and a bus terminal in midtown Manhattan. 

  8. As California’s wildfire season draws to a close, [link url=”http://www.fire.ca.gov/general/firemaps” title=”there are still 18 wildfires burning throughout the state”]–all at various stages of containment. Critical fire weather continues to force restrictions in the southern part of the state, [link url=”https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/uploads/Fire_CA_Fire-Prevention-Order_CAD-000-2018-04%2020180928.pdf” title=”with many desert areas still under Stage III restrictions”], which includes majority of the region from [link url=”http://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=a330d77fe184408ab7c3b9a8035c37fb” title=”Santa Clarita to the Mexico border”]. [link url=”https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-lifting-fire-restrictions-northwest-california-public-lands” title=”Most restrictions have been lifted in Northern California”], however, red flag warnings are in effect from Wednesday evening until Friday morning in some areas, including Sacramento. 

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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