 Best Practices › RFC and WFO Staffing › EOC staffing and support › Coordination › Talking Points  1993 vs  Return Period Explanations › Media support › Other Operational BPs  Issues

 Staffing › NCRFC arranged for on-station support from USGS and USACE  USGS helped extend ratings and coordinate with other state water science centers  USACE assisted with hydraulic impacts of levee breaks › CRH arranged for additional support to WFO Des Moines (Service Hydrologist position was vacant) and NCRFC  DMX – HAS from MBRFC, SH from DDC, HFP from MQT  NCRFC – Hydrologist from CBRFC and MBRFC

 Staffing (continued) › IA EOC staffed 24x7 for extended period by DMX MIC & WCM and DVN MIC › MKX & ILX also supported WI and IL EOCs › DMX staff sectorized hydrology operations  Day shift – SH worked the high impact river basins; forecaster worked remaining basins  One staff person dedicated to hydro on other shifts › Service above self – many of staff canceled scheduled leave or volunteered for long hours `

 Coordination › Go-To Meetings with EMs were very successful  Ensemble QPF River forecasts were used to provide a range of possible crests › WebEOC  Web-based EM event and coordination tracking tool used by IA DHS  WFO provided write access to enter forecast information › Instant Messaging  “Pidgon” set up at IA EOC and used for internal comms between WFO and IA EOC  WFOs and NCRFC had access to “Pidgon” chatroom

 Coordination (continued) › Frequent coordination with EMs  Contacted before major revisions to official river forecasts  Provided them a heads-up as to new storms approaching › Water treatment plants included NWS in daily telcons  Towns made saving water one of the highest priorities

 Coordination (continued) › NCRFC used extensive comments in RVFs:  BASED ON QPF... 2 INCHES + IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS... MOST OF WHICH IS EXPECTED TO FALL IN THE 6 HOUR PERIOD ENDING AT 12Z  FORECAST RELEASES FROM THE CORPS ARE EXPECTED TO EXCEED 32K CFS... RATING AT IOWI4 TOPS OUT AT 29.5 FEET.  CREST FEET... WE HAVE 2 DIFFERENT RATING EXTENSIONS AT THIS LOCATION AND WE WILL BE LOOKING AT THE RATING EXTENSIONS LATER THIS MORNING... UPDATES WILL BE ISSUED AS NECESSARY

 Media support › DMX (state capital) conducted live press briefings › DVN hosted News Telcons  Appreciated by media as camera crews were at flood sites  Media also appreciated being included in the logistics of the telcon › DVN WCM was Public Information Officer – primary contact  Provided consistent message  Allowed rest of staff more time to focus on hydrology, coordination and collaboration

 Web Services › Web links to road closures › Top News of the Day on WFO/CRH pages  Cut down on incoming calls to WFO  Cut down on media calls at CRH › Comments  NOAA PA, CRH and WFO staff continued to assist media and others on use of AHPS page  RFC page helpful for larger picture

 Other Operational Best Practices › Situational Awareness Displays  DVN had two TVs and could monitor Cedar Rapids and Waterloo media markets as well as Quad Cities › Google Earth Pro was used for site specific information on elevation vs. river levels and possible impacts for record flooding › Civil Emergency Message issued for mandatory evacuation of Cedar Rapids, IA

 Other Operational Best Practices › AHPS BLESS application used at DMX  Worked well to ensure a coordinated forecast was issued every time  Forecasters manually issued the forecast by using BLESS  ITO wrote script to display red warning banner on AWIPS if the forecast was not transmitted › Flood surveys were conducted to assess impacts, especially at record levels › During flood, started compiling a list of sites that could use an automated gage and/or new forecast service

 Other Operational Best Practices › CAP flyovers were used to get flood pictures › Talking Points  1993 vs – Coordinated by OCWWS  Also provided by Midwest Regional Climate Center  Return Period Explanations  Provided by DVN, CRH for media  Provided by USGS National Flood Coordinator, Bob Holmes, in USGS Corecast › During gage outages, estimates were obtained by onsite observers using relation to surroundings

 Issues from Midwest Flood of 2008 › Gages and record crests  USGS and USACE had one instance of inconsistency regarding a past record crest. Media was using USACE and NWS using USGS. Posed problem for WFO to explain to media.  Bottom line: USGS is the official word for gage records.  Inconsistencies should be coordinated with USGS Water Science Center Data Chief  Difficult to update record crests in real time  Crest updates in Hydrobase can be entered as preliminary but do not show as preliminary on the AHPS page  Requirement submitted for the AHPS page

 Issues from Midwest Flood of 2008 › Public confusion regarding return periods › Delayed radar images (20 min vs. 5 min) › Delayed RVFs due to needed coordination › See-sawing RVFs – need more continuity › Preliminary forecast from RVFs communicated to media before official › U of Iowa Hydro lab created and issued their own forecasts for Iowa River at Iowa City – unknown to DVN

› Numerous RFC/WFO/Regional/National telcons sometimes caused confusion in the field regarding information released  WFO felt out-of-loop › AHPS  for missing shows up green when actually in flood  XML encoding issues for XML products sent as HTML  Color scheme was difficult to interpret on TV › CRS overload resulted in having to reboot system

 Pre-assessment recommendations › NWS, USGS and NWS work toward using a common database for updated gage information (e.g., crests, maintenance, operational status) › Consider using probability verbiage vs. return periods › Support inclusion of comments in RVFs (i.e, RVFs may not yet be headed toward total codes that are not viewed)

 Pre-assessment recommendations › Explore optimal coordination to limit time delays of RVFs › Explore operation and software enhancement to ensure optimal continuity in RVFs › Conduct outreach with Universities that may become involved in local flood forecasting to convey need for coordinated forecast information › CRH ROC track all WFO/RFC/CRH telcons