An overview of the 2013 Colorado Floods. We also review the public information efforts from the State EOC.

1. Colorado Floods
Fast Facts & Coordinated Communications
Micki Trost, Strategic Communications Director/ ESF15 Lead
Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Micki.Trost@State.CO.US
Twitter: @COEmergency | @PIO3micki
COEmergency.com| DHSEM.state.co.us

2. Summary
• History of Colorado Disasters
• Overview of Colorado Flood
• ESF15 in the State EOC
• Recovery & JFO
• Lessons Learned
1

3. 13 Recent Declarations for Colorado
• Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (DR-4145) - Declared 9/14/13
• Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (EM-3365) - Declared 9/12/13
• Black Forest Wildfire (DR-4134) - Declared 7/26/13
• Colorado Royal Gorge Wildfire (DR-4133) - Declared 7/26/13
• West Fork Fire Complex Wildfire (FM-5031) - Declared 6/21/13
• East Peak Fire (FM-5030) - Declared 6/21/13
• Royal Gorge Fire (FM-5028) - Declared 6/11/13
• Black Forest Fire (FM-5027) - Declared 6/11/13
• Wetmore Fire (FM-5022) - Declared 10/23/12
• High Park and Waldo Canyon Wildfires (DR-4067)
– Declared 7/28/12
• Weber Wildfire (FM-2985) – Declared 6/24/12
• High Park Wildfire (FM-2980) – Declared on 6/9/12
• Lower North Fork Fire (FM-2975) – Declared 3/26/12
Colorado also experienced the Aurora Theater Massacre, Mesa County Landslide
2

4. Colorado Wildfires
3
2012:
255,220 acres
destroyed and more
than 653 homes
2013:
211,466 acres were
burned and 1,852
homes destroyed

5. Scope of Flood Disaster
• 10 Fatalities
• 18,147 people forced to evacuate
• 2,000 Square Miles Impacted
• 24 Counties
• 76 Dams with Flood Caused Damage
• 120 Bridges Needing Repair
• 485 State Highway Miles Affected
• 284 irrigation ditches damaged or destroyed
• 203 Businesses Destroyed / 765 Damages
• 1852 Homes Destroyed / 28,363 Damaged
o 28,362 Applied for FEMA Assistance
o 16,557 Received FEMA Assistance
• Still very active Fire Recovery at same time
• FEMA was already here! We know each other really, really well.
5

6. Colorado Flood Recovery 2014
6

7. Cost of Flood Disaster
$3.3 Billion in estimated damages.

$623.3 Million in home damages.

$1.7 Billion in damage to state and local infrastructure.

$535 Million to state & local highways.

$555 Million in economic impacts.
5

8. Money Allocated to Date
• $329M is being used from our September Flood.
o $1.1B in total to date.
• $53M for our State Highways; total dollars to be allocated is $450M
o Additional $100M following appeal to FEMA
• $267.3 M allocated in Public Assistance (PA)
o 20 of 24 counties approved for some level of PA and 1203 project worksheets submitted
o Cost Share Committee in place to review projects requiring additional financial assistance
• $61.7M in Individual Assistance
o 11 of 24 counties approved for Individual Assistance
o 28,368 people have applied with 16,499 approved
• $109.6M in loans provided by the Small Business Administration
o 2,138 home owners and 381businesses
15
• $58.4M in National Flood Insurance payments (over 1,950 claims)
• $62.8M of the Initial tranche of CDBG-DR funds awarded on December 5 by HUD Secretary Donovan
• $199M of second tranche of CDBG-DR funds awarded.

9. 19
State Emergency Operations Center
Response

10. SEOC Activities During Flood
20
• SEOC Activated: September 11, 2013
• SEOC Staffing: Level I with 100+ including
FEMA Staff, 1,400
• SEOC Demobilized: September 29
• 18 Days – 24 Hour Operations

11. SEOC Activities During Flood
21
Mission Orders
319
Logs Orders in first week
195
Cost of State Resource Orders
$28.5 million (current)

12. 23

13. 24

14. Search and Rescue
• Early warning
• Local public safety
• Five FEMA USAR teams
▫ Door-to-door
• Ad-hoc search and rescue
25

15. Rescue and Evacuations
26

16. National Guard Involvement
• At the peak, more than 750 personnel, 21
helicopters, and 200 military vehicles supported
flood response operations.
• Aviation
o Rescued/evacuated 2,526 civilians and 1,047
pets
o Largest air US evacuation since Katrina
• Ground search and rescue
o Rescued/evacuated 707 civilians and an
estimated 300 pets
o Transported over 20,000 FEMA provided
meals and served over 5,000 meals
6

17. National Guard Rebuilding Roads
• In 17 days, the 947th EN CO Army National Guard and CDOT
established a line of communication from Lyons to Estes Park.
• The National Guard and CDOT reopened US 36 in 52 days,
one month ahead of schedule.
7

18. EMAC
• National Guard
▫ Utah National Guard
▫ Kansas National Guard
▫ Montana National Guard
▫ Iowa National Guard
▫ Wyoming National Guard
28

19. EMAC
• Public Assistance – 8 States
• Preliminary Damage Assessment – 1 State
• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program – 1 State
• HMGP – 1 State
29

20. Isolated Communities
30
• Access
• Travel time of 1.5 hours longer
than pre-flood drive time
• Ability for disaster assistance
• Utilities and connectivity
• Distance to the nearest medical
facilities and public safety
response
• 5,620 Households, remained after
initial rescue and evacuations

21. Isolated Communities
• What challenges we
counted on:
▫ Communications
▫ Access
▫ Energy
▫ Food
• What challenges we
didn’t count on:
▫ Stragglers
▫ Second homes
▫ The extent of private roads
and bridges
31

22. State Recovery Activities
32
• State Recovery Plan
• Joint Field Office (JFO)
• Governor’s Recovery Office established.

23. Long-Term State Recovery Plan
33

24. Overall Mid to Long Term Strategy Framework
17
Recovery Area
Stream /
Floodplains
• Zoning
• ABFE
• BFE
• Housing
• Land Use
• Transportation
Corridors
• Reconstruction
of Public/Private
Infrastructure
• Future land Use
• Future Zoning
Environment
Housing
• Manufactured
Housing
Communities
• Multi-family
Structures
• Single Family
Structures
• Residents -
Owners &
Renters
• Small Business
• Communities
Infrastructure
• Private Roads
• Private Bridges
• County Roads
• County Bridges
• State Owned
Elements
• Dams
• Access to
Homes &
Emergency
Services
• Water Rights
• Ditch &
Irrigation
Companies
Debris
• Sediment
• Tree / Brush
(Woody)
• Building,
Pavement &
Structure
• Land Use
• Transportation
Corridors
• Delays to
Public/Private
Rebuilding
• Reconstruction /
Retrofitting of
Structures
Community /
Economic
•Small Business
•Private Non Profit
(PNP’s)
•Cultural / Historical
•Tourism (Loss)
•Community
Services (Loss)
•Customers & Tax-base
(Loss)
•Facility Use
•Access to Public
Materials
- Wetlands - Riparian habitat - Critical Habitat - NEPA Requirements - Mitigation Efforts - Other
Issue:
Type:
Impacts
to:

25. State Recovery Plan
35
Intermediate
• Housing
– Intermediate solutions
• Debris
• Infrastructure
– Reestablish Lifelines
• Behavioral Health
• Mitigation
Short-term
• Emergency, then temporary
access
– Guard (AT) and CDOT
• Temporary housing
• Public health
• Debris
• Business restoration
• Behavioral health
• Mitigation

26. Long-Term State Recovery Plan
36
• Colorado Recovery Office
• Hiring six local recovery coordinators
• Mitigation Specialist
• Voluntary Agency Liaison
• Federal Disaster Recovery Coordination (FDRC)

27. Integration – Colorado Recovery Office
• Ensure Unity of Effort
▫ Agencies are taking responsibility for their functions
▫ Eliminate duplication
• Strategic Oversight
▫ Goals and objectives
▫ Develop metrics and project management systems
▫ Consistent and uniform media message
• Private-Public Partnerships
• Private Fundraising
• Transparency
• Community Ombudsman
37

28. Public Information Efforts
• State EOC Public Information Staff / Emergency Support Function 15 (ESF15)
▫ 2 State Staff
▫ FEMA External Affairs in SEOC
▫ FEMA External Affairs from Region VIII in mobile command.
• Local public information efforts
▫ Supplemented with Type III Incident Management Team members initially
▫ Supplemented with Type II IMT members
18

29. Strategic Communications Plan
Twitter
COEmergency
COEmergency
Blog
Facebook
COEmergency
DHSEM
Website
CORecovers
Website
Twitter
READYColorado
29

30. Public Information Efforts – Blog
• Fast Facts formatted information posted twice a day
following conference call with each local emergency
manager and DHSEM regional field managers.
• 234,757 page views in first 100 days of flood.
• Vetted information is posted directly to Blog. No news
releases.
• Posted maps of disaster.
• Google Forms for PDA
18
Local Info Sources

31. Transition to Fast Facts
31
• Updated twice a day following conference calls with
local emergency managers and State Regional Field
Managers.
• Media pushed to wait for the updates that were posted
for the facts.
• Information also emailed to executive leadership.

32. Public Information Efforts – Google Forms
• Google Forms used to collect
Preliminary Damage Assessments
(PDA) from:
▫ School Districts
▫ Rural Electric Companies
▫ Special Districts
▫ Private Non Profits
32

33. Public Information Efforts - Twitter
18
• Get accurate information out as fast as possible.
• Rumor Control.
• Donation and Volunteer management and monitoring.
• Retweet Local Jurisdictions .
• Created 2013 Official Flood List and shared with media and community members.
Embed on blog and push out on social sites.
• Instructed media to follow Twitter account for updates.
• News releases were not sent out.
• Requests for assistance on Twitter.

34. Tweets for Help
34
• From family members with parents who refused to
evacuate.
• College students stuck on a fourteener without cell
service.
• Canadian traveler who hadn’t checked in with family
members.
Actions
• Everything taken seriously.
• First step was to connect with local jurisdiction and pass
on.
• Connect with search crews through State EOC after
vetted by Fusion Center.

35. Public Information Efforts - Facebook
• Share local jurisdictions information on COEmergency.
• Northeastern counties communicated almost exclusively through Facebook, not Twitter.
• Answered questions from public.
• Recovery information heavy.
• Posted and received photos.
18
• Posted more detailed information than on Twitter, but never connected the two accounts.

36. Public Information Efforts – Google Website
• CORecovery.Info Created
▫ Organized by Recovery Support Functions
▫ ESRI map provided utilized for Disaster Recovery Centers
locations and Small Business Association locations.
▫ All FEMA Joint Field Office (JFO) News Releases and Fact
Sheets posted.
• Photo albums shared
• Functional site
18

37. Public Information Efforts – PIO Connections
18
• State EOC ESF 15 conference call daily
▫ FEMA ESF15
▫ State ESF15
▫ Type II IMT PIOs
• State EOC connected to local PIOs
▫ Direct email, social media, text
▫ Through state liaison – Regional Field Manager
• Joint Field Officer
▫ Daily hot wash call with JFO and Field External
Affairs.

38. 18
Public Information Efforts – Media Calls
• Around the clock
• Skype for television and radio
• Media from around the world
• State EOC received nationwide and worldwide
requests
• Local PIOs had bulk of in-state media requests.
• Documentaries started the first week.

39. Public Information Efforts – News Conference
18
• News Conference & State EOC
Tours
▫ 1 news conference: FEMA
Adminstrator Craig Fugate,
Governor and Senators
▫ Almost impossible to get media
to State EOC that is far removed
from the disaster areas.
▫ Important to get coverage of the
work behind and away from the
front lines.

40. Mapping
• Google Maps
• Crisis Map
• ESRI Maps
40

41. Mapping
• One of most significant tools a PIO can use to share
disaster/ incident information.
• Best Practice: PIO and GIS staff understand each
other and how to use maps to get information to
impacted community.
• Significant efforts made to train local PIOs to map.
• Google Crisis map pulls in all individual jurisdiction
maps and layers onto one map.
41

42. Mapping
• Google Maps
• Crisis Maps
• ESRI Maps
42

43. Public Information Efforts – Joint Field Office
18
• 2 State ESF15 and 100+ FEMA External Affairs
• Utilize the FEMA staff
• Ask for help with news releases, fact sheets, talking
points.
• State Lead must know what is going on and who to
ask for information.
• Participate in JFO and all meetings
▫ Command & General Staff
▫ Planning Meeting

44. Public Information Efforts – Lessons Learned
18
• Get accurate information out quickly.
• Create relationships now.
▫ PIOs: local, state, federal
▫ Congressionals and local officials
▫ Non Government Agencies
▫ Private Partners
• Take basic trainings.
 Basic PIO (G290)
 Advanced PIO (E388)
 ICS 100, 200, 300, 400
 NIMS 700
 IS 800
 IS 49 Social Media – be proficient in Twitter,
Facebook and monitoring across multiple
platforms
• Learn and understand FEMA ESF15
• Learn and understand how all-hazard
response and recovery works. It is not the
same as wildfires.
• Pace yourself and your staff.
 Recovery is brutual and mentally exhausting.
 Take care of yourself and each other.
• Get out and see the disaster
▫ Blackhawk ride to isolated communities
▫ Civil Air Patrol flight
• Establish Trust with Leadership
▫ To post as you know
▫ Eliminate lengthy approvals
• Learn to map for public information.

45. Micki Trost, Strategic Communications Director
Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Micki.Trost@state.co.us
Twitter: @COEmergency @PIO3micki
COEmergency.com | DHSEM.State.CO.US