TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2020
1:00 - 2:00 PM SESSION 1: WELCOME & INTRODUCTORY SEMINAR - BREAKING THE CYCLE
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Major John J. Miller, USACE St. Louis District
- Michael Ward, Gateway Arch National Park, NPS
- Mark Roupas, HQUSACE
Presentation (pdf, 1.89 MB)
- David Maurstad, FEMA Headquarters
This session demonstrated opportunities to break the “damage-rebuild” cycle in flood risk management and provided illustrative examples of how interagency collaboration can be used to accomplish this. The session also discussed changes that are being made or could be made, moving forward, to improve the ability to break the cycle based on past lessons learned.
2:00 - 3:00 PM SESSION 2: A FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT RETROSPECTIVE - HOW FAR HAVE WE COME?
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Aimee Bartlett, Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Presentation (pdf, 2.13 MB)
- Carrie Grassi, New York City Mayor’s Office of Resiliency
Presentation (pdf, 4.61 MB)
This session examined changes in recent decades that arose from particular lessons learned during major flood events and from perceived needs regarding how flood risk management options were delivered. The session emphasized state and local perspectives. Instructors reviewed the events, drivers, and circumstances leading to particular changes that advanced flood risk management, utilizing specific examples to demonstrate the lessons learned and successes achieved. They explained how these changes contributed to “breaking the cycle,” identified remaining challenges, and articulated implications for further progress.
3:30 - 4:30 PM SESSION 3: WHAT’S NEW (AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?) - PRACTICES AND POLICY EDITION
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Lisa Kiefel, HQUSACE
Presentation (pdf, 1.01 MB)
- Drew Parker EPA Region 4
Presentation (pdf, 1.58 MB)
- Stacy Robarge-Silkiner, FEMA Region VII
- Michael Mierzwa, California Department of Water Resources
Presentation (pdf, 1.57 MB)
This session reviewed a variety of recent and anticipated policy changes related to flood risk management. Instructors described the policy changes, reviewed their implications, and identified opportunities that may arise due to these changes for improving flood risk management.
4:30 - 5:30 PM SESSION 4: GROUP EXERCISE #1 - WORKING TOGETHER THROUGH FRM CHALLENGES
Teams selected an unresolved flood risk challenge as a case study and evaluated how interagency collaboration and coordination can be used to break the flood risk management cycle. They considered the drivers and circumstances leading to prior flood risk management advances and the opportunities presented by recent and anticipated policy changes related to flood risk management.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020
7:30 - 8:30 AM OPTIONAL TOPICS
Limited reserved space and common spaces were available to host short optional sessions on topics of interest to workshop participants. Topics included:
- Multi-Hazard Tournament 101
Andrea Carson, USACE CPCX
Presentation (pdf, 7.6 MB)
8:30 - 10:00 AM SESSION 5: WHAT’S NEW (AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?) - TECHNOLOGY EDITION
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Robert Mason, USGS
Presentation (pdf, 2.77 MB)
- Joseph Gutenson, NOAA
Presentation (pdf, 1.93 MB)
- Jason Sheeley, USACE Kansas City District
Presentation (pdf, 5.29 MB)
- William Lehman, USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center
Presentation (pdf, 2.99 MB)
This session provided an overview of select new technologies and data sharing platforms and their implications for flood risk management. Instructors described various technological changes, recently available and under development, and provided specific examples illustrating how their implementation positively impacts flood risk management at all levels of government. Instructors also reviewed technology connections across agencies, efforts toward improved alignment and connectivity, and the potential for further improvements.
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM SESSION 6: PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF DATA, MODELS & TOOLS
This session provided additional understanding of data, models, and tools available for flood risk management. A variety of datasets, tools, and models was discussed and interagency practical application examples were shared. Concurrent small class sessions focused on:
1. Riverine Data, Models & Tools
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Lea Adams, USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center
Presentation (pdf, 110 MB)
- Dr. Cary Talbot, USACE Engineer Research and Development Center
Presentation (pdf, 81.2 MB)
- Alan Haynes, NOAA National Weather Service
Presentation (pdf, 12.0 MB)
This session focused on various tools, data, and resources available to improve understanding of riverine flood risk. Discussion focused on new tools and resources available to better predict atmospheric river events and their potential flood damage impacts, providing an overview of the tools available to use in different riverine flood risk management situations from the Hydrologic Engineering Center and other sources.
2. Coastal Data, Models & Tools
INSTRUCTED BY:
This session focused on various sources of coastal data and tools throughout the interagency community to assist the Flood Risk Management community in developing a more complete picture of flood risk in coastal environments. Discussion included finding and accessing relevant data sets, interagency data coordination, finding forecasts and data through the USGS Coastal Change Hazards Portal, and use of the software HURREVAC for assessing tropical cyclone impacts, evacuation planning, and more.
3. University Partners
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Jason Smith, USACE MVR, and Dr. Nathan Young, University of Iowa, Iowa Flood Center
Presentation (pdf, 8.21 MB)
- Dr. Allison Reilly, University of Maryland Center for Disaster Resilience
Presentation (pdf, 11.9 MB)
- Kurt Donaldson, West Virginia University
Presentation (pdf, 11.8 MB)
This session focused on ways in which partnership efforts can benefit flood risk and emergency management activities, including the additional resources they can bring to Silver Jackets team priority efforts. Presenters from the University of Iowa’s Iowa Flood Center, the University of Maryland’s Center for Disaster Resilience, and the West Virginia GIS Technical Center of West Virginia University provided insight into their participation on local Silver Jackets team efforts in Iowa, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia.
4. Tools and Resources for Plan Development
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Dr. Therese McAllister, NIST
Presentation (pdf, 6.70 MB)
- Terry Zien, USACE St. Paul District
Presentation (pdf, 3.41 MB)
This session focused on a variety of tools and resources available to help state and community officials in developing plans for community resilience to flood and other hazard-related risk. The Community Resilience Planning Guide and related supplementary resources developed by NIST was featured, along with the Emergency Action Plan Guidebook developed by the Minnesota Silver Jackets team. The session discussion highlighted examples of the implementation of planning processes that enabled communities to consider the physical and social elements of their communities to connect mitigation, response, and recovery phases as part of the broader resilience planning efforts.
5. Tabletop Exercise Tools and Resources
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Dr. Steven Diaz, USACE Readiness Support Center
Presentation (pdf, 6.70 MB)
- Charles Goad, USACE Huntington District
Presentation (pdf, 1.72 MB)
This session focused on the tools and resources available for use in planning and conducting a tabletop exercise. Additionally, benefits that the tabletop exercises provide to local stakeholders was discussed, along with how these exercises can be leveraged beyond the tabletop event itself. The session included the lessons learned, tools applied, and examination accomplished for an interagency tabletop exercise held by the USACE Huntington District in July 2019 in Pike County, Kentucky.
1:30 - 3:00 PM SESSION 7: SPECIAL HAZARDS IN FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT
Each small class session highlighted the risks and impacts for specific regional flood hazard types. Case studies highlighted effective and appropriate flood risk management strategies to reduce or eliminate impacts. Concurrent small class sessions focused on:
1. Hurricanes/Coastal Flooding
INSTRUCTED BY:
The session focused on programs and projects that demonstrate how to achieve resilience from hurricanes, storm surge, flooding, etc. in a coastal environment. Highlighted was the U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service Coastal Program, the Federal Highway Administration Resilience Pilot Projects and related resources, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Building Science programs and findings.
2. Ice Jam Flooding
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Roger Kay, USACE Omaha District
and Joe Rocks, USACE Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory
Presentation (pdf, 14.5 MB)
- Katherine Chase, USGS
Presentation (pdf, 6.49 MB)
- Nathan Robbins, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Presentation (pdf, 4.64 MB)
- Jennifer Nelson, Minnesota Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Presentation (pdf, 495 KB)
The session described the conditions that contribute to ice jam-related flooding, how to mitigate these conditions to reduce its occurrence, and how to prepare and respond when ice jam flooding is inevitable.
3. Great Lakes Flood Challenges
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Patrick Kuhne, USACE Detroit District
and Jeffery Schultz, Detroit General Services Department
Presentation (pdf, 19.3 MB)
- Lauren Fry, USACE Detroit District
Presentation (pdf, 6.49 MB)
The session described issues and challenges related to historically high Great Lakes water levels. Instructors described the hydrologic conditions that have contributed to these high levels and discussed flooding challenges and response options that have been identified to manage or mitigate associated impacts and risks. The City of Detroit’s response to this challenge was shared.
4. Urban Flooding
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Doug Plasencia, ASFPM Foundation
Presentation (pdf, 2.57 MB)
- Nicholas Bonard, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment
Presentation (pdf, 10.6 MB)
- Richard Fisher, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Presentation (pdf, 7.58 MB)
The ASFPM Foundation shared its national policy recommendations for improving urban flood resiliency. Two of the largest urban areas in the United States described strategies they are taking to address urban flooding challenges. Topics included Washington, DC’s efforts to address cloudburst flooding and its use of blue-green infrastructure to reduce its risk, and the use of green infrastructure and unique partnerships in the Chicago metropolitan area.
5. Flood After Wildfire
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Katherine Rowden, NOAA National Weather Service
- Bronson Smart, NRCS
- Melissa Weymiller, USACE Sacramento District,
Todd Tucker, FEMA Region VII,
and Stacy Robarge-Silkiner, FEMA Region VII
- Tyre Holfeltz, Idaho Department of Lands
- Michael Mierzwa, California Department of Water Resources
Federal and state agencies described the expertise, resources, and programs available to assist communities with post-wildfire recovery and mitigation, specifically as it pertains to flood and debris flow hazards. Round table participants also shared advance actions that communities can take to minimize risk before a fire happens and the immediate steps to take after a wildfire to be more resilient.
3:30 - 4:30 PM SESSION 8: BRINGING PEOPLE INTO THE FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT EQUATION - UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL VULNERABILITY
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Dr. Lori Peek, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder
and Mitch Paine, King County, Washington
Presentation (pdf, 5.05 MB)
This session highlighted the importance of identifying disadvantaged or socially vulnerable populations in communities and understanding their challenges to achieve more flood resilient communities.
4:30 - 5:30 PM SESSION 9: PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF RISK COMMUNICATION AND NON-MONETARY SOCIAL BENEFITS CONCEPTS
This session provided case studies demonstrating risk communication and social vulnerability measures and provide guidance for incorporating risk communication and/or non-monetary social benefits in flood risk management. Concurrent small class sessions focused on:
1. Effective Use of Social Media and Innovative Technologies
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Andrew Trealease, Regional Flood Control District, Clark County, NV
Presentation (pdf, 57.5 MB)
- John Ingargiola, FEMA Headquarters
Presentation (pdf, 14.1 MB)
Reaching your audience has never been easier with the use of social media and new technologies. However, it is difficult to create effective social media to get your audience’s attention, specifically when the message is on flood safety and flood risk reduction. This session provided examples of effective media campaigns, including virtual reality, to reach an audience in a world overwhelmed by media messages.
2. Risk Communication Activities in the Community Rating System (CRS)
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Bill Lesser, FEMA Headquarters
Presentation (pdf, 4.25 MB)
- Worby McNamee, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation
- Paul Sclafani, USACE Portland District
Presentation (pdf, 1.52 MB)
Risk communication and outreach activities are some of the most efficient and effective ways to obtain CRS credit for your community. However, navigating the CRS system and understanding what is creditable can be challenging. This session provided best practices and concrete examples for CRS activities focused on risk communication, including specific project examples from interagency efforts.
3. Communication Implications for Social Vulnerability Across the Disaster Lifecycle
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Dr. Nnenia Campbell, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado - Boulder
Presentation (pdf, 1.71 MB)
This session synthesized best practices guidance and academic research on risk communication in the context of hazards and disasters. It drew from an array of recommendations about communicating risk across the disaster lifecycle and narrowed them down into three overarching principles. Additionally, key takeaways included how these insights can be applied to communications involving socially vulnerable populations. This session aimed to highlight how general, familiar guidelines can be thoughtfully applied to target groups that are often overlooked or difficult to reach. A newly developed tool was shared with attendees to obtain their input on how to best relay these insights to USACE personnel and partners.
4. Non-Monetary Social Benefits in Interagency Efforts
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Travis Ball, USACE Seattle District
Presentation (pdf, 1.41 MB)
- Shawn Sullivan, USACE St. Louis District
and Evan Stewart, USACE St. Louis District
Presentation (pdf, 41.2 MB)
It can be difficult to describe all of the benefits that develop from interagency efforts, especially the non- monetary social benefits. This session provided examples of non-monetary social benefits associated with interagency FPMS efforts.
5. Communicating Technical Information
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Amanda Sutter, USACE St. Louis District
Presentation (pdf, 3.90 MB)
- Jennifer L. L. Gitt, USACE Omaha District
Presentation (pdf, 3.01 MB)
Communicating technical information, especially regarding levee safety and forecasting data, is both an art and a science. Converting your technical information into a digestible message that will catch your audience’s attention can be challenging. This session provided case studies of improving flood risk communication through forecasts and other technical tools and effective levee safety communication.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020
7:30 - 8:30 AM OPTIONAL TOPICS
Limited reserved space and common spaces were available to host short optional sessions on topics of interest to workshop participants. Topics included:
- National Levee Safety Initiative
Jamie McVicker, USACE Levee Safety Center
Presentation (pdf, 6.6 MB)
8:30 - 9:45 AM SESSION 10: NATURAL AND NONSTRUCTURAL APPROACHES
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Lea Adams, USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center
Presentation (pdf, 2.48 MB)
- Nik Richard, USACE New Orleans District
and Nick Sims, USACE New Orleans District
Presentation (pdf, 2.86 MB)
- Barbara Charry, The Nature Conservancy, Missouri Chapter
Presentation (pdf, 6.74 MB)
- Scott Covington, USFWS
Presentation (pdf, 3.58 MB)
This session reviewed various natural and nonstructural approaches to reducing flood risk management, explained implementation opportunities and particular benefits, and offered specific illustrative examples to demonstrate results achieved. Instructors described a variety of approaches, taking care to explain the different terminology used and the specific meaning, in certain contexts. They reviewed implementation opportunities, which in some instances can be carried out by private and non-governmental organizations, and offered advice regarding identifying the specific benefits deriving from their use. Instructors provided case studies to demonstrate application examples and specific results achieved.
10:15 - 11:30 AM SESSION 11: GETTING IT DONE - COLLABORATING TO ADVANCE A REGIONAL FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Michael Ku, FEMA Region VI
Presentation (pdf, 195 KB)
- Jeffrey Giering, Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
and Evelyn Campo, Louisiana Office of Community Development
Presentation (pdf, 16.1 MB)
- Shawn M. Strange, Texas General Land Office
Presentation (pdf, 5.01 MB)
This session described how to leverage multiple agency programs, funding, and expertise to implement disaster recovery and mitigation actions. Federal and state partners described opportunities to collaborate to advance regional strategic recovery and mitigation approaches.
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM SESSION 12: GETTING TO KNOW OUR FRM PARTNERS
Every potential partner has a different mission with different programs and opportunities for interagency collaboration. Teams can work better together if they understand each other’s abilities and limitations. Subject matter experts provided a brief overview of their mission, programs, and opportunities for interagency collaboration. This session provided teams with a more comprehensive knowledge of current partners and helped to identify new partnerships.
12:00 - 12:30 PM SESSION 13: EXERCISE #2 - PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER - IDENTIFYING FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT PARTNERS
Building off the case study from Exercise #1, as well as lessons learned from previous partnership efforts, teams determined ways to improve coordination across federal, state, local, and tribal partnerships throughout the flood risk management cycle. Teams identified new partnership opportunities and develop an interagency engagement strategy for working with new partners, which was used in Exercise #3. Teams also developed a list of questions or issues to discuss with SMEs during Exercise #3 based on information learned throughout the training sessions.
2:00 - 3:30 PM SESSION 14: GROUP EXERCISE #3 - CONNECTING WITH OUR FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT PARTNERS (INTERAGENCY CAFÉ)
Building off of Exercises #1 and #2 and presentations thus far, teams identified SMEs that they would like to incorporate into their efforts. Teams explored the variety of partner programs, resources, and technical expertise available to tackle interagency flood risk management challenges.
4:00 - 5:00 PM SESSION 15: CASE STUDIES FROM SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS - INTEGRATION
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Mark Roupas, HQUSACE
Presentation (pdf, 3.86 MB)
- JaLeesa Tate, Maryland Emergency Management Agency
- Samara Ebinger, New Hampshire Office of Strategic Initiatives
- Brian Rast, USACE Kansas City District
- Laura Ortiz, USACE Buffalo District
- Rachel Shrader, USACE Omaha District
- Stacey Underwood, USACE Baltimore District
This session provided examples of successful interagency flood risk management from the perspectives of interagency state teams, USACE Flood Risk Managers and USACE Silver Jackets Coordinators.
5:00 - 5:30 PM SESSION 16: CLOSING SESSION - OBSERVATIONS & EVALUATIONS
INSTRUCTED BY:
This session provided a summary of the key lessons learned throughout the training seminars and identify opportunities to apply these lessons moving forward. Training seminar evaluations will also be completed by participants.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM CONCURRENT HANDS-ON/IN-DEPTH TOPICS
1. FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grant Programs Overview
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Stacy Robarge-Silkiner, FEMA Region VII,
and Mary Kerschner, FEMA Region VII
Presentation (pdf, 6.45 MB)
This training described the range of FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs available to address hazard risk, including flood, the characteristics of each, required components, and examples of eligible activities. The session content included purpose, eligible applicants, and application time line for each grant program. Understanding the requirements will assist with the preparation and submission of successful grant applications.
Handouts:
2. Building Risk Communication Skills
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Susan Fox, Lynker at NOAA Office for Coastal Management
Presentation (pdf, 3.12 MB)
This training provided insights into how and why people respond to risk, and helped participants develop new skills to better connect with a variety of audiences. Understanding and connecting with an audience’s diverse values and concerns can lead to a higher level of community engagement and can help motivate action to reduce risk. The session helped to apply risk communication principles when faced with challenging questions and begin to develop a risk communication strategy for improved engagement with your priority audience on natural hazards. The focus was on communication around long-term planning, not crisis communication.
3. Solving the USACE Nonstructural Puzzle
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Christina Rasmussen, USACE New York District
Presentation (Overview of Nonstructural Non-Physical Measures) (pdf, 1.79 MB)
Presentation (Where Does a Nonstructural Approach Make Sense) (pdf, 2.86 MB)
Presentation (Nonstructural Doors to the Corps) (pdf, 1.87 MB)
- Lea Adams, USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center
Presentation (Nonstructural Failures Exercise) (pdf, 1.80 MB)
This 2-hour training workshop introduced participants to nonstructural measures, demonstrated where nonstructural approaches do and don’t make sense, and reviewed the various “Nonstructural Doors to the Corps.” Participants gained an understanding of the structural, hydraulic, and community factors that should be considered when evaluating nonstructural solutions. In addition, participants learned about the range of USACE authorities and programs structured to address flood risk management challenges.
4. Navigating USACE Regulatory Permitting Processes Before and During Emergencies
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Robert Gramke, John Osterhage, Chris Koenig, Jaynie Doerr, Shane Simmons, Dr. Mark Smith, Ray McCollum, USACE St. Louis District
This workshop introduced the USACE Regulatory Program and permits associated with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act. USACE staff discussed recent regulatory program updates, including the proposed “Navigable Waters Protection Rule,” permit process options during emergencies, and agency coordination requirements (Endangered Species Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act). The session also included a review of the 2019 Flood Event, current St. Louis District recovery efforts, and an introduction to a GIS based borrow tool that engineers and scientists can use for efficient borrow site selection.
6. Field Trip: Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) Nonstructural/Green Infrastructure Portfolio
INSTRUCTED BY:
- Kaleena Menke, MSD
and Shawn Sullivan, USACE St. Louis District
Presentation (pdf, 4.51 MB)
- Sean Stone, MSD
Led by MSD, participants toured Rainscaping and Cityshed Projects in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. The site visit highlighted projects aimed at reclaiming stormwater naturally, using simple techniques to manage and filter rainwater where it falls and alleviate the effect of wet weather surcharging and overland flooding of the combined storm and wastewater sewer system. The tour described the unique partnerships that enabled these projects, the sustainable building practices implemented, and the economic and social benefits realized by communities and urban agriculture.