Silver Jackets: Many Partners, One team

SILVER JACKETS

Many Partners, One Team

 

For More Information Contact

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, Email

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Email

Pennsylvania Silver Jackets

 VISION STATEMENT

Create solutions to reduce flood risk and flood damages in the Commonwealth and increase public knowledge of flood risk.

 MISSION STATEMENT

The core member agencies will establish a continuous inter-governmental collaborative team that works with other agencies and organizations to:

  • Provide assistance to municipal governments in identifying and prioritizing actions to reduce the threat, vulnerability, and consequences of flooding the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
  • Facilitate strategic planning and implement life-cycle mitigation, response, and recovery actions to reduce the threat, vulnerability, and consequences of flooding in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
  • Create a process to collaboratively identify issues and implement or recommend solutions
  • Identify and implement ways to leverage available resource and information between agencies
  • Increase and improve flood risk communication and outreach
  • Promote wise stewardship of the taxpayer’s investments
  • Provide suggestions for comprehensive state flood risk management policies and strategies and
  • Advocate changes to existing policies and processes that will improve hazard mitigation efforts and emergency response between our agencies.
 GOALS
  • Increase teams members knowledge of interagency mitigation programs and authorities in order to combine resources and identify gaps.
  • Provide hazard mitigation assistance to high priority communities targeted by the State’s Mitigation Advisory Board,
  • Coordinate team efforts into the updates of the Commonwealth All-Hazard Mitigation Plan, which must be reviewed every three years, and have the team review it annually.
  • Define a process for interagency flood risk communication and outreach roles to increase collaboration and eliminate duplication of efforts
  • Develop a strategy to educate the public, including municipal officials and the private sector, about flood risk and provide information regarding flood-related activities and available resources.
  • Develop relationships in order to share information and find answers to issues more quickly.
  • Set performance measures for success.

 

Team Activities

PA Flood Resiliency Success Stories

The Pennsylvania Flood Resiliency Success Stories document was developed and distributed by the Pennsylvania Silver Jackets Team in September 2023. The document shares information about successful flood resiliency projects in Pennsylvania with the hope that it will encourage other communities to learn from nearby communities and to develop and implement flood resiliency projects of their own. As part of this interagency project, the team brought community officials together with federal, state, and local experts in the field to visit successful flood resiliency sites in PA. The tour was held in September 2023 and showcased results of innovative planning and forward thinking by visiting five flood/climate resiliency projects constructed in the last ten years.

Photo of a PA Flood Resiliency Community Project 1

Photo of a PA Flood Resiliency Community Project 2

Filling Flood-Related Outreach Gaps Webinar Series

The “Filling Flood-Related Outreach Gaps” was a webinar series presented by the Pennsylvania Silver Jackets for the annual Flood Awareness Week from March 21st – 25th 2022.

Flooding 101

In this webinar, participants were given a crash course on some of the general concepts of floods including different flood types, flood messaging, the impacts of floods on homes and businesses, and flood safety and preparation. Participants were also asked questions about their own experiences with flood events as well as their knowledge of how to reduce flood risk.

Flood Risk Communication Initiative

Pennsylvania Flood Risk Communication Graphic


Are you a homeowner or a business owner in Allegheny County? Have you been asking yourself: Why is my basement flooding? Why is the street flooding? What do I do in a flood? How do I protect my house? When do I evacuate?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers3 Rivers Wet Weather, ALCOSANAllegheny County Conservation DistrictPA Dept. of Environmental ProtectionPA Emergency Management AgencyFederal Emergency Management AgencyPittsburgh Water and Sewer AuthoritySouthwestern Pennsylvania Commission and Watersheds of South Pittsburgh hosted a flood education workshop series to answer those questions. Five sessions were offered in July through August 2021. Topics included the basics of flooding, how to prepare and protect yourself and your property, available resources and contacts, and other important information to empower yourself and the people you care about before, during and after a flood. The goal was to create better prepared and flood-resilient communities.

Flood Risk Education Workshop Series recordings presentations, and resources 

Flood Proofing Workshops

The Pennsylvania Silver Jackets team held two flood proofing workshops in Lebanon. The afternoon workshop was - one was directed towards public officials and a second held for the general public. Presenters and topics included:

Susquehanna River Flood Inundation Mapping Tool for Wyoming Valley

The Pennsylvania Silver Jackets team developed a library of flood inundation maps tied to four existing stream gages that are also National Weather Service forecast points. The purpose of the mapping tool is to inform the general public, local officials, and emergency managers of flooding risks along a 100-mile reach of the Susquehanna River in the Wyoming Valley area. The maps are tied to the Wilkes-Barre, Bloomsburg, Danville and Sunbury gages. Project partners include the Army Corps of Engineers, National Weather Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Luzerne County, Columbia County, Montour County, Northumberland County and Snyder County.

Ice Jam Training

In December 2021, the Pennsylvania Silver Jackets team held two ice jam training sessions, one in Bloomsburg and one in Oil City. Presentations were made by USACE Cold Regions and Research Engineering Laboratory, NOAA National Weather Service and Susquehanna River Basin Commission.  Topics covered included the general science of ice jams, ice observer training/ice jam monitoring and the use of social media to report ice jams. The Oil City training included a site visit to the ice boom on the Allegheny River, one of only three ice booms in the country.

Photo taken at Oil City Ice Jam Training

Pennsylvania Silver Jackets logo


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