Florida Division of Emergency Management State Watch Office
DAILY SITUATION REPORT
Published Saturday, 20 December 2008 State EOC Activation Status — Level 3 (Monitoring)
Duty Officer: Lee Mayfield: Office: 1-800-320-0519; Cell: 850-590-9324 Plans Officer: Ashley Davis: Office: 850-413-9893 Public Information Officer: Pam Keil: Cell: 850-519-7307
Executive Summary Dense Fog Advisories in effect this morning until around 9am. Widespread patchy to locally dense fog expected again tonight, with Dense Fog Advisories possible tonight or early Saturday morning. Increasing drought values could elevate the risk for wildfires in the Peninsula through Saturday. Isolated showers possible tonight and Sunday morning across North Florida. Chinese cargo ship rescued from pirates. An international anti-piracy force thwarted the attempted takeover of a Chinese cargo ship off the Somali coast on Wednesday, sending in attack helicopters that fired on the bandits and forced them to flee after they had boarded the ship. FBI addresses unrelated suspicious mailings received this week. There have been two issues covered by the press this week concerning suspicious letters. U.S. report urges better foodborne disease monitoring. A new U.S. report concludes that major gaps remain in many critical areas of preparedness for health emergencies, including foodborne disease reporting. Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have released the sixth annual “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism” report. Nature Conservancy Strike Teams Burn to Restore Florida Lands. A new strike team has been created to help federal, state and local conservation agencies in northeast Florida to conduct controlled burns, wildlife monitoring, removal of invasive species and other tasks that will improve the natural habitat of the region. Lockerbie's Tragic Day Remembered. A series of events will take place in Lockerbie this weekend to mark the 20th anniversary of the atrocity which claimed 270 lives in the town.
Daily Weather Threat Assessment
NO THREAT Lightning Flooding LOW THREAT Damaging Wind Tornado MODERATE THREAT Hail Wildfires Peninsula Freeze HIGH THREAT Rip Currents East Central FL
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Statewide Weather Dense Fog Advisories for the coastal Florida Panhandle and Big Bend, as well as inland and western portions of the Florida Peninsula will expire between 9am and 11am local time this morning, with low clouds lifting by the noon hour. High pressure located near the Florida Straits will provide another warm and dry day statewide with mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures ranging from the mid 70s to low 80s this afternoon. Favorable conditions for the development of patchy to dense fog will be in place again tonight, mainly along the Florida Peninsula, and Dense Fog Advisories could be issued tonight or early Sunday morning. Light rain showers will be possible across western portions of the Florida Panhandle after midnight tonight, with scattered showers expected Sunday morning across North Florida as a weakening cold front moves through the Southeastern U.S. Along the coast, persistent ocean swells will continue to produce a moderate risk of rip currents along East Central Florida beaches today. Water levels are beginning to recede across Northwest Florida rivers. A Flood Warning remains in effect for the Choctawhatchee River near Bruce and Ebro and the Ochlockonee River at Concord. The Ochlockonee River at Concord is forecast to fall below flood stage later tonight or on Sunday, with the Choctawhatchee River subsiding below flood stage early next week. Drought The average Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) value for the State of Florida is 457 on a scale of 0-800 (0=good, 800=bad), however, 52% of the state currently has KBDI values above 500. With increasingly dry soils in the Peninsula, chances for wildfires could increase, especially since rainfall chances will remain small through the weekend.
Upcoming Significant Events Magic Jack St. Petersburg Bowl game, Memphis vs. South Florida at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL today. Champs Sports Bowl game, Wisconsin vs. Florida State at Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL on 27 December.
Open Source News/Unclassified Intelligence December 17, Associated Press – (International) Chinese cargo ship rescued from pirates. An international anti-piracy force thwarted the attempted takeover of a Chinese cargo ship off the Somali coast on Wednesday, sending in attack helicopters that fired on the bandits and forced them to flee after they had boarded the ship. In another blow to the region’s thriving piracy trade, the Indian navy handed over 23 pirates it caught at sea to authorities in Yemen. In Wednesday’s assault, nine pirates armed with guns overtook the Chinese ship with speedboats and boarded the vessel, said the head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center. He said the 30-member crew sent a distress message to the bureau as it saw the pirates approaching, then barricaded themselves inside their living quarters. He said the bureau quickly alerted the international naval force, which dispatched two helicopters and a warship. “Two helicopters arrived at the scene first and helped deter the hijacking. They fired at the pirates, forcing them to flee the ship,” he said. There were no injuries during the five-hour ordeal. Somali pirates, spurred by widespread poverty in their homeland, have hijacked more than 40 vessels off their country’s coastline this year.
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28281953/ December 18, Federal Bureau of Investigation – (National) FBI addresses unrelated suspicious mailings received this week. There have been two issues covered by the press this week concerning suspicious letters. These matters are not related. The first issue involves letters mailed from Texas to more than 40 different governors’ offices around the country and numerous U.S. Embassies overseas. Each of these envelopes contained a similar typewritten letter and a white powder substance. The powder was field tested at the site and then forwarded to a regional laboratory for further testing. To date, the testing on the powder has proven negative for any harmful substance. It will eventually be sent to the FBI Laboratory as evidence in the case. Even though the substance is harmless, this matter is still a federal crime and is being investigated by the FBI’s Dallas Division and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. In a second, unrelated matter, several U.S. military facilities throughout the country have received envelopes containing a computer disk and other material. There has been no powder substance in these mailings to date. As part of the FBI’s WMD protocol, agents in each field office interact with countless people in their communities to provide training on how to recognize suspicious mail and the proper notification procedures. In several instances involving the letters to the military bases, the FBI responded, examined the envelope, and determined there was no federal crime. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/suspiciouspackages121808.htm December 17, Food Production Daily – (National) U.S. report urges better foodborne disease monitoring. A new U.S. report concludes that major gaps remain in many critical areas of preparedness for health emergencies, including foodborne disease reporting. Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have released the sixth annual “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism” report. This edition of the report found that 20 states did not meet or exceed the national U.S. average rate for being able to identify the pathogens responsible for foodborne disease outbreaks in their states, and it references some of the more serious 2008 U.S. health emergencies including the salmonella outbreak in jalapeno and Serrano peppers that sickened 1,442 people in 43 states and the largest beef recall in U.S. history in February. “Monitoring the public’s food supply is a real world example of public health preparedness as it requires the same skills and technologies needed to detect and mitigate bioterrorism and infectious disease outbreaks,” states the report. Source: http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Quality-Safety/US-report-urges-better-foodborne-diseasemonitoring/?c=DtqJR18k3Pm3LVK7u6KHow%3D%3D December 19, Environment News Service – (Florida) Nature Conservancy Strike Teams Burn to Restore Florida Lands. A new strike team has been created to help federal, state and local conservation agencies in northeast Florida to conduct controlled burns, wildlife monitoring, removal of invasive species and other tasks that will improve the natural habitat of the region. Northeast Florida was identified by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists as an area in need of increased controlled burns to maintain the diversity of plants and animals in the region. The new strike team, known officially as The Northeast Florida Resource Management Support Team, is based out of the University of Florida's Ordway-Swisher Biological Station. “Conducting controlled burns not only help maintain the diverse habitats for Florida wildlife but also help reduce fuels, such as woody debris, that in turn can reduce the likelihood of intense wildfires," said Parker Titus, who leads the Northeast Florida Resource Management Support Team. The new team is assisting public agencies with conservation lands east of I-75 and north from Wekiwa Springs up to the Georgia border. Just two months old, the strike team has assisted conservation agencies with controlled burns across more than 1,000 acres. Source: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-19-092.asp
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December 19, BBC – (International) Lockerbie's Tragic Day Remembered. A series of events will take place in Lockerbie this weekend to mark the 20th anniversary of the atrocity which claimed 270 lives in the town. Pan Am Flight 103 was blown out of the skies over the south of Scotland on 21 December 1988. It crashed to earth on Lockerbie, killing all 259 passengers and crew on board and 11 people on the ground. A number of small ceremonies are planned in the town on Sunday to remember those who lost their lives. Events will also take place in America to honour the victims of the bombing. A memorial service is planned at Syracuse University in New York State, which saw 35 of its students killed. The dead will also be remembered in a ceremony at the Lockerbie memorial in the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7777808.stm
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