Tropical Storm Lani is now showing wind speeds averaging a consistent 60-65 miles per hour

Tropical Storm Lani is now showing wind speeds averaging a consistent 60-65 miles per hour

RAT 3 Topic

PILOT PROJECT WEATHER EVENT STATUS
Tropical Storm Lani is now showing wind speeds averaging a consistent 60-65 miles per hour (mph). Current tracking and modeling point to an expectation that Tropical Storm Lani will develop sufficiently over the next several days to reach the threshold criteria to become classified as a Category 1 hurricane – i.e., sustained wind speeds of 74-95 mph. Over the last several days, Tropical Storm Lani has continued a somewhat westerly direction now approximately 1,100 miles east of Puerto Rico. The latest forecast is still projecting a landfall to the U.S. east coast between Norfolk VA and Charleston, SC. The next forecast is expected to provide a more defined landfall area of focus once then-Hurricane Lani’s path is better estimated based on nearing populated land masses within the northern Caribbean geographical area.
BACKGROUND
The OPPA Associate Administrator provided another EMRAAS Pilot Project Team update to FEMA senior leadership. One of the topics raised for EMRAAS Pilot Project Team consideration was that of resources; specifically, what type and in what amounts. It was acknowledged by FEMA senior leadership that detailed planning at this point would be “big picture” in nature. However, emergency management-related resources from a national perspective are not unlimited and sufficient lead-time will be needed to ensure proper resources are strategically located in advance of a Hurricane Lani landfall. This strategic pre-positioning approach is preferred to provide emergency management support as quickly as possible to those landfall areas most impacted by the Hurricane Lani weather event.
Of specific interested from FEMA senior leadership was the identification and prioritization of those emergency support function (ESF) capabilities thought by the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team to be most in demand after landfall. Since there are 15 different ESF categories, FEMA senior leadership is intensely interested in the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team’s initial thoughts regarding those ESFs considered “most important.” With this information, FEMA senior leadership – and other relevant internal and external stakeholders – can begin the necessary planning actions to proactively start to request, schedule, and pre-position the prioritized ESF capabilities as soon as possible and certainly before actual landfall.
As a result, the OPPA Associate Administrator has tasked the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team for a point paper that provides our Team’s brainstorming thoughts on which ESF sectors the Team views as “most important” when it comes to best ensuring the most effective and efficient disaster preparedness and subsequent response/recovery actions to be taken by the whole emergency management community for the benefit of all affected stakeholders.
RAPID ACTION TASKER #3
Part 1: Request the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team to briefly discuss the role of “emergency support function” (ESF) sectors as they relate to emergency management. How are they organized and why?
Part 2: Based on a projected Hurricane Lani landfall between the Norfolk, VA and Charleston, SC geographical area, conduct your own research to recommend which two (2) emergency support functions (ESFs) you deem as “most important” for preparedness and subsequent response/recovery emergency management support activities related to Hurricane Lani. Briefly provide rationale for your recommendation.
The following link serves as a starting point for some relevant information to this tasking.
• FEMA National Response Framework: Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) [Webpage]
DELIVERABLE FORMAT
Post your answer with supporting in-text citations and a reference list (in APA 7th edition format) to the Discussions page / Week 3 forum / EMRAAS RAT #3 topic folder.