Silver Jackets: Many Partners, One team

SILVER JACKETS

Many Partners, One Team

 

2015 Silver Jackets Team of the Year: Oregon Silver Jackets

Oregon Silver Jackets Team of the Year, 2015

The Oregon Silver Jackets Team is the recipient of the Silver Jackets Team of the Year Award. The Team, a sub-committee of the State Interagency Hazard Mitigation Team, is recognized for its exemplary progress in flood risk management and serves as a model for the Silver Jackets program. The team’s many useful products are indicative of the success of their efforts.

They collaboratively developed a Rapid Assessment of Flooding Tool (RAFT) to combine data available from multiple sources to estimate flood frequencies of recent and forecasted events across the state.

This information is immensely useful in prioritizing emergency preparedness and post-disaster activities and has benefits for levee safety activities. In addition to being recognized as a useful tool in Oregon, RAFT has been recognized by neighboring states and is now being expanded to incorporate these additional states.

Another example of the team’s success is its development of improved methods to collect and store perishable data after flood events, collectively outlining the Perishable Data Plan for Oregon, which was invoked after flood events.

In addition, working together they developed a Statewide Flood Hazard Layer database to provide a common location for historical data, floodplain-mapping products, and high water mark data.

Furthermore, the team has developed and participated in numerous public education and outreach activities focusing on methods that provide educational information directly to the public.

Activities include a “one-stop-shop” web page with multi-agency links for Oregon residents, a multi-agency state-wide flood awareness campaign based on the 50th anniversary of the devastating 1964 Christmas flood, and numerous community High Water Mark signs.


U.S. Army Corps of Engineers supports state-led Silver Jackets Teams through its Flood Risk Management Program.