The following information is being posted to keep you informed of steps being taken by the City of Miles City to prepare for a major spring flood event in Miles City. The purpose of this thread is provide public safety information and I would request that we keep it clear for that purpose only.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Joe

From the Friday, June 10, edition of the Miles City Star:

By Marla Prell

City, county and state officials met Friday morning at City Hall to discuss how to respond in the event of local flooding - a concern fueled by frequent rains and approaching spring runoff.

The Yellowstone River at Miles City reached 12.88 feet as of noon Friday, and was expected to hit 13.2 feet sometime Saturday and remain there until Sunday. Flood stage is 13 feet. At its peak, the Yellowstone's flow is expected to top 68,000 cubic feet per second. The US Geological Survey predicts the river will stay slightly below flood stage from mid-Sunday through at least Tuesday. Thunderstorms are in the forecast through Tuesday.

Earlier this spring, the Yellowstone reached 16.51 feet, with flooding in several areas. Officials reviewed the Incident Command system that is part of the city's Master Plan in case of emergencies. The Incident Command system provides a clear structure for decision making, communication and activation of emergency services. The mayor is at the top of the structure, which branches off into fire, ambulance and law enforcement services, and includes the Miles City Council, Disaster and Emergency Services, the City Public Works and Finance departments, and the Red Cross.

Miles City Fire & Rescue Chief Dale Berg will be the Incident Commander, the person responsible for directing and controlling resources. Dwayne Andrews, public information officer for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 7, will also serve as information officer in the Incident Command chart. A couple of positions have not yet been finalized. Other topics discussed Friday were sandbagging and access to heavy equipment.

Beginning Monday, there will be daily briefings about the flood situation, Andrews said. The briefings will run from 10-10:30 a.m. in the City Hall conference room. Officials will use the time to fine-tune response plans and share information. Briefings are open to the public, and questions may be asked after the sessions.
Also, periodic press releases will be issued to update people on flood issues.

Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Update: On Wed and Thurs, June 8 and 9, the area on the Face of The Bighorns and on the Bighorns received a fair amount of rain. This was a concern as rain on the snow pack might cause an increase to the Tongue River flow. Current inflow is 4690 cfs, up 1400 from Tuesday, outflow is 4320 cfs, up 1300 from Tuesday and the reservoir is measured at 105%, from 103% on Tuesday.



[This message has been edited by Mayor (6/14/2011)]

Miles City mayor, Joe Whalen has activated an Incident Management Team organization as described in the Emergency Operations Plan. Several team members along with city personnel have recently been meeting at City Hall to plan actions that would be implemented during or before "emanate danger from flooding".

The team and city personnel will continue to meet one to two times per week or more often when and if flooding potential increases. The meeting begins at 10:00 a.m. and end by 10:30 a.m. The public is invited to listen and can ask question once the planning session is complete. The meetings have been held in the main floor conference room in City Hall. A public notice of the meetings will be in the Miles City Star when time allows.

The following are website links that provide a wealth of information about the current weather, flood and road conditions in Montana. The links can be located on MilesCity.com under City Government forum, on www.inciweb.org under Montana Flood Info.

The links are:
http://www.inciweb.org ; under Montana Flood Info
http://www.mt.gov/travinfo/flood.shtml ; Latest road report
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov; weather forecast
http://dma.mt.gov/des/default.asp; Montana Flood Declaration
http://dnrc.mt.gov: Flood Information including Dam monitoring from Department of Natural Resources & Conservation
http://dma.mt.gov/des/lib...hour-2.PDF: Public Health Emergency Preparedness
http://www.dphs.mt.gov/ne...uito.shtml; Mosquitoes information
http://www.dhhs.mt.gov/PH...nace.shtml; links to immunizations for flood victims and workers

Dwayne Andrews
Flood Planning Team
Information Officer

Cindia Miller RN
Custer County Public Health

FEMA Clarification on Flood Damage Documentation

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Montana Disaster and Emergency Services would like to issue a clarification concerning economic injury and damage report forms for business and individual property owners affected by flooding.

The MT. Dept. of Disaster and Emergency Services is encouraging any businesses or individual homeowners who suffered economic injury or sustained damages to their property to submit documentation to our county DES coordinator. There is no deadline for filing a report with the state; however, the sooner DES receives the individual property owner damage and economic injury forms, the sooner the damages can be calculated and considered for assistance. With flooding ongoing, it is impossible to say what final damage totals will be. Please be assured that DES wishes to accurately document all flood damage and this effort will be ongoing while the emergency lasts.

So far, the state has requested assistance only for public infrastructure. At this stage, the state has not requested assistance from FEMA for individual losses, though that may change as damage assessments come in.

Worksheet forms and supplemental information: http://dma.mt.gov/des/estdamages.asp
The Worksheet Tab for business owners who have sustained economic injury: Economic Injury Worksheet
The Worksheet Tab for Individual homeowners with damage to property: Estimated Damages Incurred by Individual Homeowners

All documentation should be turned in to:
Montana Disaster and Emergency Services
Jan Traynor, Individual Assistance Specialist
1956 Mt. Majo Street, P.O. Box 4789
Fort Harrison, Montana 59636
Office: (406) 324-4772 - Fax: (406)324-4790
email: [email protected]

Any farm and agricultural losses should be discussed and documented with the local Farm Services Agency.

REPAIRED LINKS BELOW

The following are website links that provide a wealth of information about the current weather, flood and road conditions in Montana. The links can be located on MilesCity.com under City Government forum, on http://www.inciweb.org under Montana Flood Info.

The links are:
http://www.inciweb.org ; under Montana Flood Info
http://www.mt.gov/travinfo/flood.shtml ; Latest road report
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov; weather forecast
http://dma.mt.gov/des/default.asp; Montana Flood Declaration
http://dnrc.mt.gov: Flood Information including Dam monitoring from Department of Natural Resources & Conservation
http://dma.mt.gov/des/lib...hour-2.PDF: Public Health Emergency Preparedness
http://www.dphs.mt.gov/ne...uito.shtml; Mosquitoes information
http://www.dhhs.mt.gov/PH...nace.shtml; links to immunizations for flood victims and workers

Dwayne Andrews
Flood Planning Team
Information Officer

Cindia Miller RN
Custer County Public Health

This is a reminder from our Incident Command Team that the levee protecting Miles City and portions of Custer County is prohibited to unauthorized motor vehicle traffic by order of the mayor, until further notice. Violators will be prosecuted. Thank you for your cooperation.

FLOOD INCIDENT UPDATE: Incident Commander, Fire Chief Berg, has announced that the Miles City Flood Preparedness Team will no longer hold weekly meetings at City Hall. The team will remain active until such time as mountain snowmelt has dissipated to levels below any
potential for producing flood conditions in the Miles City area.