Flood Risk Management & the
“Silver Jackets” Program
Florida Silver Jackets
Kick-off Session
Wednesday, November 3rd 2010 , 1-4pm
Kelley Training Room, 3rd floor, 2555 Shumard
Oak Blvd., Tallahassee, Florida
US Army Corps of Engineers
BUILDING STRONG®
The Problem: Effectively Managing Flood Risk Management
• Developing programs & activities that
contribute to managing flood risk
• Manage flood risk in a “Life Cycle” watershed
framework that integrates:
•
•
•
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Emergency Management
Dam & Levee Safety
Planning
Operations (Res Ops, vegetation on levees, etc.)
• Coordinate Flood Risk Management Policies,
Programs & Activities with Federal, State,
Local partners
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BUILDING STRONG®
Solution: Silver Jackets Program
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BUILDING STRONG®
Silver Jackets
 What is the Silver Jackets Program?
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An innovative program that provides an opportunity to consistently bring
together multiple Federal, State and sometimes local agencies to learn
from one another and apply that knowledge to reduce risk.
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Provides a formal and consistent strategy for an interagency approach to
planning and implementing measures to reduce the risks associated with
flooding and other natural hazards.
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It is a partnership of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state agencies.
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Silver Jacket programs are developed at the state level with support from
the Corps, FEMA and other Federal agencies.
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BUILDING STRONG®
Why the name Silver Jackets?
Traditionally, different agencies wear different colored jackets when
responding to emergencies.
For example, FEMA personnel wear blue and Corps personnel wear red.
The name Silver Jackets is used to
underscore the common mission of
the diverse agencies involved;
figuratively wearing silver jackets,
indicating a commonality of
purpose.
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BUILDING STRONG®
Program's Primary Goals:

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Create or supplement a mechanism to collaboratively address risk management
issues, prioritize those issues, and implement solutions
Increase and improve risk communication through a unified interagency effort
Leverage information and resources, including providing access to such national
programs as:
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
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Provide focused, coordinated hazard mitigation assistance in implementing highpriority actions such as those identified by state mitigation plans
Identify gaps among the various agency programs and/or barriers to implementation,
such as:
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
FEMA's Map Modernization program
RiskMAP programs
USACE's Levee Inventory and Assessment Initiative
conflicting agency policies
or authorities,
Provide recommendations for addressing these issues.
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BUILDING STRONG®
Program Objectives
 Establish continuous, collaborative State level partnerships to
implement Flood Risk Management solutions
 Facilitate state level life-cycle planning to reduce flood risks
 Leverage resources and information; learn about other programs
and how to combine effectively and improve processes, identifying
and resolving gaps and counteractive programs
 Improve flood risk communications & outreach to states and
communities; unified interagency messages
 Establish close relationships to facilitate integrated post-disaster
recovery solutions
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BUILDING STRONG®
Program's Desired Outcomes:
 Reduced flood risk
 Agencies better understand and leverage each other's
programs
 Collaboration between various agencies, coordinated
programs, cohesive solutions
 Multi-agency technical resource for state and local
agencies
 Mechanism for establishing relationships to facilitate
integrated solutions post-disaster
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BUILDING STRONG®
Program Implementation
 Silver Jackets framework is used to implement state
level partnerships
 Initially focus on states with “opportunities” for
collaboration
 Long term objective is to have teams operating in each
state
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BUILDING STRONG®
Developing a Silver Jackets Team
• Teams are developed at the state level with the support of the
Federal partners
• At a minimum, each state team includes a representative from:
• Federal Emergency Management Agency/DHS
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• State hazard mitigation officer
• State National Flood Insurance Program coordinator
• Adjunct team members could include representatives from other
interested Federal agencies.
• Include representatives from Native American tribes/nations as either
adjunct or standing members
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BUILDING STRONG®
Why Develop a Silver Jackets Team Charter?
• The charter is a tool that provides a clear description of
the team and its purpose
• Identifies the authority and resources to accomplish the
purpose of the team
• Clarifies team expectations, keeping the team focused
and aligned with organizational priorities.
• Is non-binding
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BUILDING STRONG®
Silver Jackets State Team
Formation
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BUILDING STRONG®
Corps Silver
Jackets POC
State
Phone
Email
ALABAMA
Vongmony Var 251-694-3866
Vongmony.Var@usace.army.mil
FLORIDA
Dave Apple
904-232-1757
David.P.Apple@usace.army.mil
GEORGIA
Jeff Morris
912-652-5008
Jeffrey.S.Morris@usace.army.mil
KENTUCKY
Roger Setters
502-315-6891
Roger.D.Setters@usace.army.mil
MISSISSIPPI Katy Breaux
601-631-5741
Katy.Breaux@usace.army.mil
NORTH
CAROLINA
Jason Glazener
910-251-4910
Jason.S.Glazener@usace.army.mil
SOUTH
CAROLINA
Sara Brown
843-329-8150
Sara.A.Brown@usace.army.mil
615-736-7856
Dave.A.Bishop@usace.army.mil
TENNESSEE Dave Bishop
Corps Silver Jackets Reps – FEMA Region IV
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BUILDING STRONG®
FAQs:
Q1: How often do SJ Teams meet?
A1: Team decides; monthly is ideal
Q2: What do meeting agendas consist of?
A2: Team decides; generally, topics include items such as data sharing,
and problem solving in specific high risk basins within the state
Q3: What is the value added, why not just use our existing mitigation
meeting as the appropriate forum?
A3: Because a key element or tenet of FRM is to coordinate across all
disciplines within the organization… not simply mitigation/planners,
but responders, etc…
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BUILDING STRONG®
Why Form a Silver Jacket Team
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
Reduce Flood Risk to the Nation, through better
coordination and collaboration across Programs
within the Corps, and with other Federal, State,
and Local Agencies.
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BUILDING STRONG®
Flood Risk Management/Silver Jackets
Questions?
Dave Apple, P.E.
Watershed Planning Section
Jacksonville District
US Army Corps of Engineers
701 San Marco Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32207
V: 904-232-1757
F: 904-232-3976
email: David.P.Apple@usace.army.mil
Russ Rote, P.E., PMP, CFM
Planning and Policy Division
South Atlantic Division
US Army Corps of Engineers
60 Forsyth Street, SW Room 9M4
Atlanta, GA 30303-8801
V: 404-562-5103
F: 404-562-5218
email: Russ.L.Rote@usace.army.mil
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BUILDING STRONG®
Silver Jackets Kick-off Attendance
NWS Inundation Mapping Website
http://www.weather.gov/ahps/inundation.php
• Graphical representation of flood
inundation for flood stages based on
steady state hydraulic modeling of
water surface elevations for
incremented discharges for selection
locations across the nation
• NO LOCATIONS WITHIN FLA!
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Statewide GIS Coordination
History
• FGDC Grant
• October 2007 – April 2008
• 3 regional user conferences 520+
stakeholders engaged, online survey,
interviews
• 3 regional workshops 150+ participants
• http://www.floridadisaster.org/gis/capgrant
Programmatic Goals
• Establish a formal framework for
successful GIS coordination
– Create Geospatial Programs Office headed
by a GIS Coordinator
– Create a Geographic Information Council
– Empower Technical Advisory Committees
State CIO Office
• 2010 Strategic Plan recommends…
– short-listed GIS as a potential enterprise
information technology and recommended
making GIS an enterprise service
– allocating two additional resources
– creating in statute a Geographic Information
Office within AEIT, and the formation of a
Geographic Information Council.
Statewide GIS Coordination
• Agency for Enterprise Information Technology Strategic Plan
– https://aeit.myflorida.com/agencyprojects
– Results of state agency survey in Addendum A
– Report from GIS Workgroup in Addendum B
• GIS Use Survey
– http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FL-GISCoordination-Survey
Statewide GIS Coordination
• SHRUG
– Statewide GIS Coordination update at lunch on
2nd day.
– Panel discussion on statewide GIS
coordination following for the 1:30 PM session
(working on conference call and GoToWebinar
for this panel).