17 March 2019 WFO Hastings Emergency Backup of WFO Omaha and Implementing ICS
On March 15, 2019, WFO Hastings Nebraska was quickly thrust into emergency backup when WFO Omaha Nebraska had to evacuate during an extreme flooding event.
This backup situation included two offices in Level 1 status from record flooding across central and eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Initially, the
weather and impact side was getting accomplished and fulfilling the mission of the agency, but the administrative side of the situation was in chaos. After
an attempt to operate the way we have in the past, it was determined a new organizational structure was needed to manage the chaos and evolving situation.
To do this, we implemented the Incident Command Structure (ICS), utilizing our Playbooks and identifying an Incident Commander. This presentation will
provide a brief review of the flooding event and backup operation and explain why switching to the ICS was beneficial for conducting optimal operations.
Jerilyn Billings Wright
NOAA/NWS Weather Forecast Office, Hastings, Nebraska