The Nashville District logistics manager can request a “Logistics Planning and Response Team” using ENGLink.  This is now part of the contingency checklist.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes and Ohio River Division’s alert and recall roster includes personal contact information for all logisticians within the division, and Logistics Plans and Operations Division.

The Corps of Engineers, National Weather Service and U.S. Geological Survey are charter members of the Tennessee Silver Jackets team, which is a consortium of federal, state and local agencies whose mission is to partner together to mitigate flood risk in Tennessee.  The three federal agencies communicate regularly, even when there is not an ongoing event.  The Corps meets annually with the USGS to develop the annual Cooperative Stream Gaging Program.  We’re utilizing the NWSChat, an Instant Messaging program developed by the National Weather Service, to routinely coordinate our reservoir operation plans with the National Weather Service.  Finally, we installed automated spillway gate monitoring equipment that provides real-time information to the National Weather Service on reservoir releases.

The Nashville District established a new Water Management Center to expand command and control capabilities.  We have updated our 24/7 operations plan with weather and water level thresholds to define when to monitor conditions outside of normal working hours and defined when Water Management elevates its staffing level after hours.  Each operating level has requirements for increased frequency and scope of internal and external communications.

We have installed communication equipment with satellite capability at the federal building and new hardware and software.  This enables water managers to receive stream gage, rainfall and redundant reservoir and tailwater elevation data directly via satellite.  We still receive project data entered by the operators via network.  One thing that we’ve done to improve the redundancy of that system was add a second independent network line at the federal building.   The project operators call the National Weather Service directly to report spillway gate changes.  We are also adding automated spillway gate monitoring equipment at our dams, which provides data directly to the NWS.

While it is a constant challenge to educate the public about how the Corps manages our projects within the Cumberland River system, we have developed and published a water management education series on our website, which describes how the Corps manages flood risk.  A mobile website called River Status was also developed, which makes available key water management information from Nashville District projects and from their accompanying watersheds.  The data is easily viewed on mobile devices, tablets and computers.  We also worked with other federal agencies and the city of Nashville on their SAFE Tool, which stands for situational awareness for flood events.  This tool helps with the city’s flood preparedness response and mitigation efforts.  Public Affairs takes advantage of every opportunity to educate the media about how the Corps manages projects in the Cumberland River system.

Emergency Management Branch had no issues recalling emergency essential personnel (i.e. EM, Senior Leaders) during the 2010 event. The district uses a call tree to recall crisis management team and crisis action team members when necessary. The system improvement that was made after the 2010 event was to create “tiers” on the CMT recall roster. This allows only the essential personnel needed at the time to be notified. The Nashville District also uses the Army e-Messaging System to recall and inform district personnel.  This system has been used effectively a number of times since the flood during inclement weather events.

Water Management has identified subject matter experts to be deployed to the state emergency operations center as needed to brief water management operations during flood events.  The Emergency Management Branch has always had outstanding communications with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.  However, we have created the Emergency Management Support Team. This team consists of subject matter experts within the district that supports emergency management during a disaster. As stated above, Water Management subject matter experts will be called to the emergency management branch during an event to provide on-time data to TEMA.

Sandbags are distributed to different locations throughout the district’s area of responsibility. We have the capability of receiving additional sandbags from vendors within 24-48 hours. There has not been any change, nor was there a need for improvement in the way we distribute sandbags to the state in both Tennessee and Kentucky.  We distributed more than 100,000 sandbags to Tennessee within hours of them being requested during the May 2010 flood event.

The USACE Logistics Activity has designated the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes and Ohio River Division and regional logistics manager to be in the chain of responsibility and command and control when the Local River Advisory Committee has been incapacitated.

The Logistics Support Plan is reviewed annually at the district and division levels as part of the Army’s Managers' Internal Control Program.

When the Emergency Management Branch requests the use of a “Logistics Planning and Response Team,” we ensure the team has full access to our ENGLink database. We also ensure they have a seat in the Emergency Operations Center where they can provide Reception, Staging, Onward-Movement, and Integration services.

The “Logistics Planning and Response Team” is granted access to LRN’s ENGLink database through the ENGLink team in Mobile, Alabama.

Weekly project maintenance status and project component (turbines, spillway gates, sluice gates, etc.) availability report is produced by the Operations Division.  This is used to inform district elements of the status of project maintenance and its operational capabilities.  Water Management participates in a formal review of proposed maintenance schedules.  We do this to ensure that routine maintenance does not affect our ability to operate the projects to manage flood risk. In addition, if changes occur to units during the day, project operators will call Water Management personnel and make them aware of any out of service equipment.

We have updated our 24/7 operations plan with weather and water level thresholds to define when to monitor conditions outside of normal working hours and to defined when Water Management elevates its staffing level after hours..  Each operating level has requirements for increased frequency and scope of internal and external communications. The purpose of this plan is to address staffing requirements ahead of an event and to ensure the proper response is taken as a situation develops.

Increased communication between the Corps of Engineers and National Weather Service has enabled both agencies to improve the understanding of technical information and to streamline the exchange of data.  This has been accomplished through the use of NWSChat and routine coordination calls, as well as visits to each other’s operation centers.  We are also collaborating on the development of a Cumberland River Community Model.  When it’s completed, the same model used to evaluate reservoir operating scenarios would be utilized by the National Weather Service to develop its flood forecasts.

We installed communication equipment with satellite capability at the federal building and new hardware and software.  This enables water managers to receive stream gage, rainfall and redundant reservoir and tailwater elevation data directly via satellite.  We still receive project data entered by the operators via network.  One thing that we’ve done to improve the redundancy of that system was add a second independent network line at the federal building.   We have improved our continuity of operations by identifying a secondary location to perform water management operations as necessary.  We are also replicating water management information and storing it in remote locations to ensure data is accessible.

Water Management continues to follow approved operating plans for operating the reservoirs within the Cumberland River Basin. We can and do make adjustments to project operations prior to a rainfall event; however, due to the timing and magnitude of water needed to be released in order to significantly change water levels throughout the basin, it is very difficult to make concrete operating plans based upon predicted rainfall forecasts.

We have participated with the National Weather Service in webinars and teleconferences to receive training on quantitative precipitation forecasts.  In addition, our 24/7 operating plan dictates requirements for monitoring QPFs issued by the National Weather Service when Corps personnel are off duty.

We receive all National Weather Service forecasts through an automated system.  In addition, we coordinate and exchange information through NWSChat directly with the National Weather Service in the development of their forecasts.

We are now fully engaged in the Cooperative Stream Gaging Program with the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Weather Service for maintenance and operation for Corps-owned gages.  The Corps collaborates with both the USGS and National Weather Service on the best locations for gages.  Where economically feasible, gage stations have been modified to provide additional protection from high-flow events.

The District is undergoing a thorough and deliberate revision of the Water Control Manuals that govern operations of our 10 dams. In addition, as a result of the May 2010 rainfall event, some of the project rating curves which help us calculate discharge rates were extended to cover higher stages and gate openings experienced in the May 2010 event.

The Nashville District is undergoing a thorough and deliberate revision of the Water Control Manuals that govern operations of our 10 dams. When changes are proposed to how the Corps operates one of its projects a public review process must be undertaken, which ensures a comprehensive update is completed and that update is open to public comment.