Hurricane Season Resources

Peak hurricane season starts mid-August and typically lasts through October. Here are some resources to help your water utility to weather the storms as best as you can. 

According to the National Hurricane Center, there are five major hazards associated with hurricanes. These hazards include storm surge & storm tide, heavy rainfall & inland flooding, high winds, as well as rip currents and tornadoes. Storm surge can travel several miles inland and can cause dangerous saltwater intrusion in areas with estuaries and bayous. 

Use this Storm Surge Inundation Map from U.S. EPA to view your utility’s hurricane risk, mitigate flood damage, and get real-time coastal storm advisories. Rainfall amounts are not directly related to the strength of tropical cyclones but rather to the speed and size of the storm, as well as the geography of the area. This means that it is important to track the rise of water levels even after the storm has passed and to be prepared for flooding. 

U.S. EPA's Flood Resilience Guide is a helpful resource to know your flooding threat and identify practical mitigation options to protect your assets. Hurricane force winds (74 mph or more) can destroy buildings and cause power outages as debris flies around so emergency managers should plan on having their evacuations complete and their personnel sheltered before the onset of tropical storm-force winds, not hurricane-force winds. Access U.S. EPA's newly updated Power Resilience Guide to learn about strategies water and wastewater utilities can use to increase resilience to power outages.

Further Hurricane Season Resources:

• Hurricane Tracker | National Hurricane Center
  • Use this tool to view storm activity in your area to better prepare for potential landfall of a hurricane.
• Hurricane Incident Action Checklist | U.S. EPA
  • This checklist outlines key actions that can be taken immediately before, during, and after the event to mitigate impacts. 
• Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) | U.S. EPA
  • CREAT is a tool that assists water sector utilities in assessing climate-related risks to utility assets and operations. Throughout CREAT’s five modules, users consider climate impacts and identify adaptation options to increase resilience.
• NHC Outreach Resources | National Hurricane Center
  • Find resources and information about the practical program of education and outreach on hazardous tropical weather offered by the National Hurricane Center.
• Federal Funding for Utilities in National Disasters (Fed FUNDS) | U.S. EPA
  • Fed FUNDS presents information tailored to water and wastewater utilities on federal disaster and mitigation funding programs from EPA, FEMA, HUD and SBA. 
• Emergency Response Tools | U.S. EPA
  • EPA has a variety of tools and guidance to support drinking water and wastewater utility preparedness and response.
     

Hurricane Preparedness for Wastewater Facilities

As Hurricane Ian left swaths of Florida without water and wastewater services at the end of September, the New York Times was already reporting on potential environmental impacts of the storm hitting South Carolina. Beyond the acute hazards of exposure to untreated wastewater, the biggest concern in hurricane-impacted areas is nutrient pollution and the potential for harmful algal blooms.

As extreme weather events impact larger stretches of the country, the water sector (including regional watershed protection entities) will need to anticipate greater consequences in the emergency response planning process. Florida DEP's Hurricane Preparedness for Domestic Wastewater Facilities and FEMA's Hurricane and Flood Mitigation Handbook for Public Facilities offer some helpful recommendations.

FEMA divides its recommended (primarily anticipatory) mitigation strategies into four categories: elevate or relocate, protect or divert, floodproof, provide redundant systems. The fact sheet identifies which of these strategies are appropriate for each major component of a wastewater facility. For example, installing "backflow prevention devices such as valves on lines that flow into the lift station and emergency overflow lines" is an option for floodproofing a lift station.

FEMA also provides a similar framework for drinking water systems.

Florida DEP's suggestions for before and after a hurricane can provide an update to an existing baseline checklist, particularly for minimizing these concerning downstream impacts. For example, it is recommended to "drain wastewater holding ponds as completely as practical after receiving a hurricane warning" as well as ensure that biosolids for land application have been "spread or stored in a secure manner."

With the frequency and severity of hurricanes and other extreme weather events increasing, facilities may need to adopt new strategies to prevent costly cleanup efforts and even legal battles.

Better ERPs Part 4: Is Your System All-Hazard Ready?

Last year saw record-breaking heat, severe storms, and worsening drought conditions across the country. And current NOAA predictions suggests the first half of 2016 won’t be much different as El Nino continues to have widespread effects. If these events have left you asking, “What would I do if something like that happened in my community,” you’re not alone. 

In part four of our series on improving emergency response plans, we want to help you find an answer. The tips and resources below will walk you through the process of developing an all-hazards response plan and provide specific guidance for some of the most common hazards.

1. Understand your vulnerability to extreme weather. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is a great resource here. Their Ready.gov website has information on when and where extreme events are most likely to take place.
2. Identify vulnerable assets. Are key equipment located in the floodplain? Are your circuitry and control panels secured for high winds?
3. Identify possible mitigation measures would protect vulnerable assets and priority operations. Putting in place a procedure to top off water in storage tanks prior to a hurricane or bolting down chemical tanks in advance of a flood are just a few examples.
4. Determine which mitigation measures should be implemented. Keep in mind costs, effectiveness, and practicality when making this decision.
5. Identify actions that will need to be taken immediately before and after an event. For example, sandbagging treatment sheds or turning off water meters at destroyed homes and buildings.
6. Write a plan to implement mitigation and rapid-response measures. This should be revised periodically and integrated into your utility's overall asset management process.
7. Be prepared to act. Include rapid-response measures in your employee training programs and keep staff and other stakeholders up-to-date on any changes.

For more planning tips and information on common hazards, check out these resources and visit our documents database. You can also learn more about drought preparedness in part two of this series.

Water/Wastewater All-Hazards Boot Camp Training
This training course is designed for water and wastewater employees responsible for emergency response and recovery activities. It also explains why and how to implement an all-hazards program. The program walks you through a scenario with Our Town Utility staff, lets you hear from water sector representatives, and tests your knowledge on prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene (WASH)-Related Emergencies & Outbreaks
This CDC portal offers a comprehensive set of tools and resources for not only responding to a crisis but also preparing for the worst. Preparedness resources include preparedness toolkits, preparedness training, and directions for emergency disinfection of water.

Climate Ready Water Utility: Adaptation Strategies Guide & Planning for Extreme Weather Events
This webinar presentation highlights the Workshop Planner and the Adaptation Strategies Guide, and how a utility can use them both when developing adaptation plans. It also highlights utility experiences with the tools.

Flood Resilience: A Basic Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities
With a user-friendly layout, embedded videos, and flood maps to guide you, EPA's Flood Resilience Guide is your one-stop resource to know your flooding threat and identify practical mitigation options to protect your critical assets.

Incident Action Checklist – Tornado
Use this comprehensive list from U.S. EPA to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a tornado.

Emergency Response for Drinking and Wastewater Utilities
This EPA portal has a variety of tools, including mobile-friendly websites, to support utility preparedness and response.