DENR and Emergency Management Partner On New Web Tool Focused On Dam Failings PDF Print E-mail
State Government
By Administrator   
Wednesday, 26 November 2014 05:33

RALEIGH, (SGRToday.com) - Dam owners and emergency officials will have an easier time of sharing information, should a dam fail in North Carolina now that two state agencies have created a web-based tool that enables people to submit and update emergency plans for high and intermediate hazard dams.

The web-based planning application and template enables dam owners to more easily meet a key requirement of the Coal Ash Management Act of 2014. The law requires that people submit by March 1, 2015 emergency action plans for high and intermediate hazard dams to the state departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Public Safety.

Frank L. Perry, secretary of the N.C. Department of Public Safety, said in a statement that the state Division of Emergency Management began work on the development tool several years ago after a county emergency manager requested the state’s help in developing a better, more efficient emergency action plan for dams statewide. The agency partnered with DENR to develop a new, web-based tool that would be based on a similar template plan developed earlier for licensed care facilities.

The web-based tool will create an affordable, secure, statewide repository for emergency action plans that can be accessed at any time by local and state emergency management personnel and dam safety engineers in the event of a dam leak or failure. An emergency action plan for a dam includes information that identifies emergency procedures if a dam leaks or fails and downstream hazard maps to help local emergency officials develop evacuation plans if they are necessary.

 
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