June 2022
 It's officially HURRICANE SEASON! Just 6 days in, we have our first named storm--Tropical Storm Alex. Above is the latest location of Alex, as of the 5am Monday (6/6) update. Alex is projected to continue its Northeastern trajectory and pass near or just north of Bermuda today, with Tropical Storm conditions expected on the island this afternoon. The impacts to Virginia will be to the beaches along the coast only. The risk of rip currents will be in Virginia Beach, and in North Carolina in Eastern Currituck County, so be mindful if you're heading to the beach today. The threat remains through this evening, with waves of 4 to 5 feet. This will result in rough surf conditions and the risk of rip currents. As the storm continues to pull northeast, the threat will diminish this evening.
 There are no other areas of concern to watch over the next 24-48 hours for tropical development, but we continue watching for
The hurricane season lasts through the end of November. Our in-house hurricane experts, along with our National Weather Service partners, the VEST (Virginia Emergency Support Team), and the Governor's team are in constant communication and are ready to act in the event of a hurricane or other threatening tropical weather.
VDEM's role during a hurricane and any other disaster is to be in communication with our localities and support our local communities with their needs. Year-round, VDEM works to plan, train, and exercise the plan. We keep a strong partnership with media--keeping public informed throughout the event. VDEM also does damage assessments, works with FEMA partners, and does hazard mitigation. Our grant program exists to buy down the risk of disasters. It helps the locality or localities recover from a disaster. For every $1 we spend in mitigation, it saves an average of $6. it is one of the backbone phases of emergency management.
Region 5 hosts VDEM's Hurricane Program Office. It is a vital component of the Commonwealth’s hurricane preparedness. Hurricanes are one of the most significant threats to Virginia, both at the coast, where 1.3 million people could potentially be at risk to storm surge, to inland communities, at risk to flooding, winds, and even tornadoes.
The Hurricane Program office has been in existence since the 1990s and has been at the forefront of hurricane planning in the Commonwealth, as well as participating with the National Hurricane Program since its infancy. The office is staffed by Bruce Sterling, who is the Hurricane Program Manager, and Stewart Baker, who is the Hurricane Technical Specialist (and served as the Hurricane Program Manager from 1999-2015). They work very closely with the FEMA Region 3 Hurricane Program Manager, the National Hurricane Program, National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service forecast offices, hurricane programs in neighboring states, among other stakeholders.
Some of the key functions of the Hurricane Program are to oversee the development and maintenance of the Hurricane Evacuation Study, which serves as the basis for hurricane planning in the Commonwealth; coordination of hurricane related training such as Hurrevac, Hurricane Decision Makers and Hurricane Awareness courses; Subject matter experts to the COVEOP (Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan) Hurricane Annex and local hurricane plans, exercise scenarios, and hurricane history. During the hurricane season, they constantly monitor the tropics and track any potential or actual storms and keep VDEM leadership aware any that could threaten Virginia.
In April, Bruce and Stewart attended the National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, FL, where Stewart was recognized with a Distinguished Service Award. During attendance at the conference, they have an opportunity to interact with some of their important peers, such as the National Hurricane Center forecasters, FEMA and USACE Hurricane Program Managers, and other state hurricane program managers. They also participated in the Hurricane Awareness Tour in Arlington, coordinated the annual Virginia / FEMA R3 pre-hurricane season meeting, and they annual Virginia / North Carolina evacuation coordination meeting which will be held on June 17 at the Currituck, NC Emergency Operations Center.
*While various sources have different numbers, the National Hurricane Center indicates 113 deaths.
 **FEMA has recently established key deadlines for applying for FEMA Public Assistance for eligible work that your organization may have performed that was required to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Key Deadline #1
July 1, 2022 marks the deadline for eligible applicants to submit a Request for Public Assistance (RPA). An RPA is not an application for funding, but the first level of review for applicant eligibility for the PA program. RPAs must be submitted through the FEMA Grants Portal.
Eligible applicants include:
- State, local, and tribal governments;
- Certain private non-profit organizations, including houses of worship
How to Submit an RPA - Existing User/Organization
How to Submit an RPA - New User/Organization
If an RPA is not submitted by July 1, 2022 - then the applicant will not be able to apply for a grant through the PA program to reimburse for eligible COVID-19 expenditures.
VDEM and FEMA encourage eligible applicants to submit an RPA if you have at least $3,500 in eligible COVID-19 expenditures. Once an RPA is submitted, and approved by VDEM and FEMA, a FEMA Program Delivery Manager (PDMG) will be assigned to walk you through the application process.
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Key Deadline #2
The 100% federal cost share for eligible COVID-19 expenditures that began January 20, 2020 will be coming to an end on July 1, 2022. This means that the work must be completed by July 1, 2022 to be eligible for 100% federal funding, but the expense does not need to be paid by this date.
After July 1, 2022 the federal cost share will be 90%, with a 10% non-federal cost share. The end of the incident period has not been determined, and will remain open until FEMA defines the end of the incident period for this disaster.
Applicants must track work performed, and costs incurred prior to July 1, 2022 separately than work performed and costs incurred after July 1, 2022.
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Key Deadline #3
December 31, 2022 marks the deadline to submit a streamline project application(s) in FEMA Grants Portal for eligible COVID-19 work and costs that occurred between January 20, 2020 and July 1, 2022. The streamlined project application must include information and documentation sufficient for FEMA to determine whether the work is eligible, and either the actual or estimated cost of the work.
How to Submit a Streamline Application - FEMA Grants Portal
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Individuals looking for Individual Assistance, please visit disasterassistance.gov for assistance.
Businesses looking for assistance should visit the Small Business Administration’s disaster assistance website.
Do you serve or represent individuals or communities in Virginia who are impacted by flooding?
You probably do — flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster. Anywhere it can rain, it can flood.
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The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is developing a Flood Protection Master Plan to address the threat of flooding statewide.
Your responses to this brief survey will help us ensure that your community is invited to participate as we create a Flood Protection Plan that works — for ALL Virginians.
Thank you for your help!
SURVEY
Please forward this email and survey link to other community and organization representatives.
For any questions or comments please reach out to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Flood Resilience Program, at Flood.Resilience@dcr.virginia.gov.
REGIONAL NEWS
Region 1: VDEM Region 1 employees will be at many of the upcoming Richmond Flying Squirrels partner nights. Join us to learn more about Emergency Management!
- Wed, June 8 – Louisa CART
- Tues, July 26– National Weather Service
- Thurs, Aug 18 – CERT
- Thurs, Sept 1 – Preparedness Night
Region 2: VDEM Region 2 continues to plan, train and exercise for the Bi-Annual North Anna Power Station Radiological Emergency Preparedness drill. This is a federally required and evaluated initiative, in collaboration with local Emergency Managers, state-agency partners, FEMA and Dominion Energy.
The region 2 team is growing! They are actively engaged in the process of hiring a Regional Radiological Planner and a Recovery and Mitigation Specialist. If you or someone you know are qualified and interested in either position, check out the listings at vaemergency.gov.
Region 2 is still working on recovery support to localities from the January winter storm.
Region 3:The City of Lynchburg – Department of Emergency Services will be hosting a Functional Exercise on June 14th, from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. The purpose of this exercise is to test and demonstrate the City's ability to plan and coordinate the response to simultaneous events including a water contamination incident affecting the City and an active threat at Liberty University resulting in a Multiple Casualty Incident.
Region 4: If you are interested in learning more about Emergency Management or possibly entering the field, Region 4 is hosting the last class of the Emergency Management Basic Academy; the L102 Science of Disaster. They are held in various locations across the state, but this is the first time that this series of courses has ever been held in Region 4. If you are interested in attending, contact Justin Haga, Justin.Haga@vdem.virginia.gov for more details.
Region 4 will also be hosting their first VDEM Regional stakeholder meeting since COVID started. This is a meeting that encompasses all Region 4 stakeholders, ie. state agencies, localities, non-profits, and private businesses.
VDEM Region 4 will be attending a rescue task force response plan workshop in Smyth County. The purpose of this is to help Smyth County establish and write a rescue task force response plan to assist them with the response to an active threat situation.
Region 4 is also continuing to support flood recovery efforts in Buchanan County.
Region 5: VDEM employees will be touring Tangier Island on Monday the 13th due to recurring flooding issues. They will be surveying the area.
Now that it's hurricane season, the region is also very closely watching for any development in the tropics.
There will be a hurricane evacuation exercise in North Carolina that VDEM will be participating in, as Virginia and North Carolina often coordinate during evacuation situations.
They also have a list of action items that came out of a Mass Care (Sheltering) Exercise, that will help to continue improve sheltering in the Region.
Region 6:
On Thursday May 26, Region 6 staff responded to Bedford County at the request of their Emergency Management Coordinator after several reports of severe wind damage. Crews found a path of damage over 6 miles long and over 45 structures damaged. Bedford County Special Operations, Lynchburg Technical Rescue Team, VDEM staff, and local volunteers conducted wide area searches and conducted preliminary damage assessments. While there were three minor human injuries and one minor injury to a dog, there were no fatalities. The National Weather Service determined it was a strong EF2 Tornado- only 2 miles per hour shy of an EF3. VDEM staff is continuing to work with Bedford County on debris management and recovery efforts.
Region 6 is also supporting Bedford County with storm recovery.
Region 7: VDEM's Region 7 is continuing to collaborate with regional partners to assist border migrants into DC from Texas.
They are also monitoring Supreme Court of the United States protests and trucker activity in and around the National Capital Region.
Region 7 will be participating in a regional fuel supply chain exercise this month.
They are preparing for 4th of July celebrations in the region.
Work continues on several ongoing projects: The first is to update the National Capital Region THIRA (Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment). There are also 2 Hazard Mitigation plans going on, and the MIRR (Military Installation Resilience Review) project.
 We have a number of digital preparedness resources available for download and print here: Make a Plan | VDEM (vaemergency.gov). Start by encouraging people to print the Emergency Reference Card to fill out and display on their refrigerator. This has basic contact information that is useful and easy to reference in an emergency.
The next thing you'll want is "My Emergency Plan". It has everything you need before, during, and after a disaster from emergency information, an emergency kit checklist, how to find your hurricane evacuation zone, a place to list where you will go in the event of an evacuation, important contact information, and much more. There are also resources for recovery after a disaster.
We've also updated our content calendar for June!
Take a look--we've got graphics that you can post with tips and reminders for Hurricane Season, Pet Preparedness Month, National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, and more. You are welcome to send these out in a newsletter, and even add your own organization's logo to them to showcase our partnership.
Go to Preparedness Calendar | VDEM (vaemergency.gov) to see the new additions!
 We are proud to announce our latest Partners!
Loudoun County is now a Partner! Quinchela Dent-Harris is the Outreach Coordinator with the Office of the County Administrator, Public Affairs & Communications, and has years of experience with the Department of Health and non-profits. She has a degree in public health and saw the need to partner with VDEM to spread important information about emergency preparedness to those in her community. Thanks for your dedication, Quinchela!
Tammy Oakes is the Executive Director of Arms Open Wide Ministries. They're a non-profit in Blackstone, VA. Arms Open Wide Ministries will make available effective opportunities and resources to promote overall enrichment by empowering individuals to complete wellness in every aspect of life providing exposure to resources that will inspire people to be the best they can be at whatever stage in their lives and by investing in people with resources they might otherwise not have, Arms Open Wide Ministries will stimulate integral growth within the communities and in the lives of others and beyond all for the glory of God. Check out their website at Arms Open Wide Ministries.
Jackie Green-August is the Executive Director of People Empowered by And Committed to Education, another one of our newest Partners. They're a non-profit organization in Crewe, VA. PEACE empowers individuals to address obstacles and barriers hindering their quality of life. In addition, PEACE empowers communities to build equitable and accessible systems of health care, education, food, transportation, and employment. Check out more at People Empowered By and Committed To Education - GuideStar Profile
We are also proud to welcome the Crater Health District of the Virginia Department of Health to our network of Partners! Steven Herring is the Local Health Emergency Coordinator. He will be coordinating with VDEM for outreach and learning opportunities. Visit the Crater Health District's website: Crater Health District - Crater Health District (virginia.gov).
The Near Southwest Preparedness Alliance out of Roanoke is also a new Partner. Executive Director Robert Hawkins has one simple mission: to support the healthcare infrastructure of Southwestern Virginia with disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation resources. In other words, they help keep the doors of healthcare open when disaster strikes. They do this by providing comprehensive disaster resource management, delivering world-class training, education and exercises, supporting response through incident coordination, improving healthcare intelligence with real-time situational awareness before, during and after disaster, and more. Learn more about Near Southwest Preparedness Alliance: NSPA - NSPA (nspa1.org).
Our last new Partners is Centra Southside Community Hospital located in Farmville. They are the only hospital to serve 8 counties. Since a hospital serves people from all walks of life, they will be able to help us spread preparedness information to everyone from kids to seniors and everyone in between. Centra Southside Community Hospital | Centra Health - Central Virginia's Comprehensive Medical Resource
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