Emergency and disaster management briefing for February 21, 2020: A tanker carrying jet fuel overturned and split in half on an overpass in Indiana and erupted in flames; eleven of the 13 Americans being monitored at UNMC in Nebraska tested positive for the coronavirus; two people are dead and more than 60 are injured after a more than 100-car pileup in Montreal; heavy rainfall that led to widespread flooding across the southeastern U.S. reveals hundreds of high-hazard dams that lack emergency action plans; two teens were arrested in a small city in Kansas after a series of mysterious explosions and more than 80 IEDs were found in their truck; the U.S. Department of State has issued a Level 2 Travel Advisory for Hong Kong; eight counties in South Carolina are set to benefit from $157 million dollars received from the federal government for flood mitigation efforts; and data from NOAA’s SPC reveals five states with the highest number of tornadoes on average each year.
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1) Two interstates were closed in Indiana after a tanker truck exploded and caught fire. The incident occurred on Interstate 465 southbound to Interstate 70 in Indianapolis on Thursday when a tanker carrying 4,000 gallons of jet fuel overturned and split in half, erupting into flames. The overpass was extensively damaged by the fire. The driver, who managed to escape with the assistance of Good Samaritans, was severely burned and listed in critical condition.
HIGHWAY INFERNO: A tanker truck carrying jet fuel exploded after overturning on an interstate ramp in Indianapolis.
Police say good Samaritans helped rescue the driver, who has been taken to the hospital. https://t.co/IvSi4K2UcN pic.twitter.com/IE9ivkcf6F
— ABC News (@ABC) February 21, 2020
2) The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) received 13 of the Americans evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in order to monitor them for signs of the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that 11 of the 13 being monitored tested positive for COVID-19, increasing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States to 26. The CDC commissioned the UNMC in 2005 as a biocontainment unit, and the facility successfully treated three Ebola patients in 2014.
Authorities warned about the spread of #coronavirus beyond China on Thursday as Japan reported first two deaths from Diamond Princess, South Korea reported its first fatality, and new cases in Iran sparked fears about cases appearing in the Middle East. https://t.co/JQME2nO55b
— DisasterPhilanthropy (@funds4disaster) February 21, 2020
3) Two people were killed and at least 60 people were injured in a more than 100-car pileup in Montreal on Wednesday that occurred in snowy weather. Sudden white-out conditions reduced visibility to near zero on Highway 15 along a stretch of the St. Lawrence River. First responders had to cut at least nine people out of wrecked vehicles, and the incident closed a 9.3 mile stretch of the highway in La Prairie until late Wednesday night.
Highway 15 closed in La Prairie on Montreal's South Shore after multi-vehicle pileuphttps://t.co/7t3mYh55y5 pic.twitter.com/WUSRvtXb6J
— Steve Rukavina, CBC (@Steverukavina) February 19, 2020
4) Heavy rainfall that led to widespread flooding across the southeastern U.S. in recent weeks has highlighted another potential public safety issue. According to reports, hundreds of high-hazard dams in the South lack emergency action plans, including an earthen dam on a private Mississippi lake in Yazoo County that began eroding during recent flooding. A dam north of Jackson, known only as MS04462, is only one of the more than 1,000 dams in Mississippi that remain unclassified, with no record of state inspections and no emergency action plan.
Heavy rains and recent flooding across the Southeastern U.S. have highlighted a potential public safety concern for some dams. An Associated Press review has identified hundreds of high-hazard dams in the South that lack formal emergency action plans. https://t.co/uEJsaO4EPG
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 20, 2020
5) In a small city in Kansas, two teens were arrested after a rash of mysterious explosions led authorities to their truck. The teens’ truck contained more than 80 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) — which they were selling to other people — along with additional bomb-making materials. To assist local law enforcement, first responders, emergency managers, and private sector partners in addressing these types of threats, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Bombing Prevention (OBP) offers three types of training — in-person, virtual instructor-led, and computer-based training — all of which is free of charge.
Two arrested with dozens of homemade explosiveshttps://t.co/knCRqFYxKI
— boomcat (@boomcat583) February 11, 2020
6) The U.S. Department of State has issued a Level 2 travel advisory for Hong Kong due to the ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus. The Department of State has raised the travel advisory for mainland China to a Level 4 — Do Not Travel — due to the coronavirus outbreak first identified in the city of Wuhan, located in the Hubei province. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a Level 3 Warning for China — Avoid all non-essential travel to the country.
U.S. citizens should reconsider travel by cruise ship to/in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific Region. To prevent the spread of the novel #coronavirus that causes COVID-19, many countries are implementing strict screening procedures. For more information see: https://t.co/00DS0YyAxv pic.twitter.com/CiT8poDGe6
— Travel – State Dept (@TravelGov) February 20, 2020
7) South Carolina has received $157 million dollars from the federal government to help mitigate flooding across eight counties in the state. Officials are working to determine the best projects that will provide the most benefit to areas consistently prone to flooding, and the money will also be used for buyouts and to assist those who are displaced for days or weeks due to neighborhood flooding. The eight counties set to benefit from the funding include Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion and Marlboro counties. The main issues in these flood-prone counties will be presented at a public meeting in March.
$157M federal dollars will go towards flood mitigation across 8 SC counties https://t.co/7FIMVbhtIz
— Tonya Brown (@TonyaWPDE) February 21, 2020
8) Information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center (SPC), highlights data on how middle latitudes are the most prone to tornadogenesis. Tornadoes are more likely to develop between 30 degrees and 50 degrees North or South, because this is where cold, polar air meets warmer, subtropical air and air flow is often at different air speeds, directions, and levels of the troposphere. This facilitates the development of rotation within a storm cell, which leads to the creation of tornadoes. According to their statistics, five states see the most tornadoes on a yearly average: Texas (155), Kansas (96), Florida (66), Oklahoma (62) and Nebraska (57).
https:// m/us/tornado-alley-us-state-most-struck-severe-weather-noaa.amp
— Cheyenne Fagerstrom (@crose7191) February 20, 2020