For the past four out of five years, Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator John Zeiger has been preparing communities for floods in Carbon County.
This year, there is not enough snowpack to generate significant flooding in Carbon County, according to Jim Fahey, hydrologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Even though the flood potential is low, Zeiger is still working on flood plans to meet requirements for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
This year, Zeiger is working on the National Preparedness System, which includes six parts:
• Identifying and Assessing the Risk
• Estimating Capability Requirements
• Building and Sustaining Capabilities
• Planning to Deliver Capabilities
• Validating Capabilities
• Reviewing and Updating
The scenario Zeiger is using for his FEMA project is flooding at the Fort Steele bridge. Zeiger said he chose the Fort Steele project because it would affect the whole county.
In the scenario, the flood causes the bridge at Fort Steele to be compromised and the traffic would have to be rerouted.
The Rawlins Police Department, the Wyoming Highway Patrol and the Carbon County Sheriff's department would coordinate together on how to reroute the traffic through Rawlins, Zeiger explained.
"We come up with the risk, which is the flooding," Zeiger said.
The flooding would make an economic impact, because people who live in Hanna, Saratoga or Encampment would not be able to make it to work in Sinclair or Rawlins, nor would the people who live in Sinclair or Rawlins be able to make to the eastern side of the bridge at Fort Steele.
A fiber optic line goes through that area. If the decks of the bridge are damaged, it could affect the fiber optics. Zeiger is researching where the fiber optics are located to see how it would be affected.
Pipelines run through the area as well, Zeiger said.
While it may seem extreme, the probability is there and Zeiger is to look at the what could happen in a worst-case scenario.
Because it is an agricultural area, Zeiger is putting into the mock plan that 200 head of cattle will be killed and he will have to address how to handle that kind of catastrophe.
The core capabilities by mission area include prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery and are broken down into 31 areas.
The core capabilities start with planning, public information and warning, and operation coordination.
Part of the exercise including looking at all of the areas to determine which would be used. "We might put n/a [not available] in there, because it doesn't pertain to the flood," Zeiger said.
"If it does pertain to the flood, then we have to see if we have the resources and capabilities to to deal with those," Zeiger explained. "If we don't, then we have to go into our gap analysis and figure out where our gaps are and address those gaps."
Zeiger has several notebooks provided by Homeland Security which he has been studying to familiarize himself with the core capabilities and the best way to address them.
In order to be eligible for the Homeland Security funds, Zeiger is required to participate in the planning, which includes three types of disasters – natural, manmade and a medical or biological event.
Zeiger chose the natural disaster of flooding because it is a real threat in Carbon County.
The exercise is a table top exercise, but the core capabilities exercises are so concise, it helps Zeiger to have a detailed plan in place.
Last week, Zeiger attended a workshop to help him create a template.
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