City!of!Charlotte’s!Operation!Snowflake! …charlottenc.gov/newsroom/releases/Documents/Operation...Microsoft Word - Operation Snowflake After-Action Report.docx Created Date 20170110011644Z

CITY OF CHARLOTTE CHARLOTTE COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING

www.charlottenc.gov | 600 East Fourth Street | Charlotte, NC 28202 |

City of Charlotte’s Operation Snowflake

Winter Storm Helena Jan. 6-‐8, 2017

The first winter storm of 2017 moved into Charlotte on Friday, Jan. 6, bringing with it freezing rain and snow. Winter precipitation continued overnight and into Saturday, Jan. 7. Total snow accumulation was generally less than anticipated, with most parts of the city receiving a mixture of snow and ice. The north and northwest parts of Charlotte saw the most ice accumulation.

Overall, city service impacts were minimal throughout the duration of the winter weather, and the city’s inclement weather plans were executed without major incident.

With safety as a top priority, city departments worked together to communicate updates to the public and city employees. Comunications channels included website updates, news releases, social media posts, GovDelivery communications and lightbox messaging. Since Friday, Jan. 6, CharlotteNC.gov’s Newsroom received approximately 3,400 unique views.

Charlotte Fire Department and Charlotte-‐Mecklenburg Emergency Management

• Emergency Management coordinated four conference calls with government partners and agencies including the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the six incorporated towns to discuss preparations, response and recovery from this winter weather event. In addition, Emergency Management opened an event in WebEOC (“Operation Snowflake”) for all agencies to submit information for sharing and situational awareness. Due to coordinated efforts among all agencies, no specific requests were needed during this event.

• CFD increased staffing levels for the winter storm to include two additional Engine/Tankers and two High-‐Clearance 4x4 Utility Vehicles with a total of 20 additional personnel. Call volume from Friday, Jan. 6, at 6 p.m. to Saturday, Jan. 7, at 6 p.m. included the following 64 incidents related to

Photo Courtesy of @CharlotteDOT

Tweet Sent by @CLTgov


the winter storm, this does not include normal EMS responses: o 3 Structure Fires o 48 Vehicle Accidents o 6 Power Line Problems o 1 Water Problem o 2 Gas Leaks o 4 Miscellaneous Storm-‐Related Problems

• Lastly, at the request of North Carolina Emergency Management, CFD sent (3) HART Members – Helo

Aquatic Rescue Team Members to the mountains of Haywood County onboard a N.C. National Guard Helicopter to assist in the rescue of (2) stranded hikers that had been lost for over 24 hours. The (3) CFD HART Members returned to Charlotte Saturday night after a successful rescue.

Charlotte Department of Transportation

The Street Maintenance Division (SMD) of the Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) began preparations for winter weather to affect the Charlotte area on Jan. 5, 2016. The SMD Snow and Ice Plan contains several treatment levels dependent on the severity and extent of winter precipitation.

Pre-‐Treatment • Application of salt brine in advance of predicted weather

Condition -‐ A (Light Event) • Light snow or ice accumulation. • Treatment of bridges and culverts as well as documented problem areas. • Utilizes a portion of the workforce and equipment.

Condition – B (Moderate Event) • Accumulation of snow and/or ice on most streets. • Treatment of 2,245 lane miles. • Entire workforce (196 employees) and equipment resources are mobilized.

Condition – C (Severe Storm) • Significant accumulation of snow and/or ice on all streets. • Entire workforce and equipment are mobilized. • Use of contracted resources as needed.

SMD began pre-‐treatment of 274 bridges and culverts as well as 833 lane miles identified in the plan on Thursday, Jan. 5. On Friday, Jan. 6., SMD transitioned to 12-‐hour shifts and started a B-‐Condition at 7 p.m. that evening covering 2,245 lane miles. Salt and other materials were applied through the end of the day on Sunday,

Jan. 8. SMD Crews continue to respond to icy areas with materials as needed due to the significantly cold air and pavement temperatures.

Tweet Sent by @CharlotteDOT


SMD Crews have placed the following amounts of materials on City and contracted NCDOT roads to combat snow and ice during this event.

Salt Brine 86,541 gallons Salt 1,519.95 tons Calcium Chloride 2,180 gallons Calcium Acetate (NAAC) 5,565 pounds Slag used as needed for traction

SMD personnel have worked more than 5,000 man-‐hours to respond to this storm since Thursday of last week. In addition to the plan response activities, SMD has maintained a 24/7 response to calls for service and logged the following numbers of calls during the storm.

Street Maintenance Division Calls for Service

Shift CMPD Resident CATS CLT Water CFD MISC TOTAL

01/06/17 Day 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 01/06/17 Night 5 0 0 2 0 1 8 01/07/17 Day 6 20 4 0 1 0 31 01/07/17 Night 3 0 2 2 0 3 10 01/08/17 Day 7 28 4 0 0 0 39 01/08/17 Night 4 3 1 2 0 0 10

TOTALS 26 54 11 6 1 4 102

The Street Maintenance Division has utilized the following equipment during this snow and ice event.

37 Tandem Dump Trucks w/ plows and spreaders 9 Brine Trucks 6 Loaders 2 Salt/Slag trucks Below is a day by day summary of the major weather and crew activities: Thursday, Jan. 5 – Street Maintenance crews applied brine solution to all Priority 1 and 2 Routes as well as bridges and culverts.

Friday Jan.6 – Street Maintenance crews applied brine solution to all Priority 1 and 2 Routes as well as bridges and culverts. Precipitation in the form of light rain began at approximately 4 p.m. and transitioned to sleet and freezing rain overnight. Transitioned to B Condition at the 7 p.m. shift change.

Saturday Jan. 7 – Crews continued to operate under a Condition B. Observed continued sleet and freezing rain early in the morning changing over to snow by mid-‐morning. Accumulations varied significantly based on geography. Snow ended in most parts of the City by 11:45 a.m. Crews applied salt and plowed areas as needed throughout the shift.


Sunday, Jan. 8 – No precipitation in the area. Crews remained on B condition to ensure adequate coverage and dispatched crews to Priority 1-‐4 streets. Crews reported a majority of streets were showing bare pavement, particularly in areas to the South and East of I-‐85. Switched to an A condition for the overnight shift beginning at 7 p.m.

Monday Jan. 9 – A Condition staff overnight treated calls for service and provided treatment on areas that refroze due to daytime melting. Crews are reporting a majority of City maintained streets are clear of snow and ice.

MEDIC – A Mecklenburg EMS Agency

• Medic prepared for the storm by adding non-‐traditional supplies on ambulances. Crews had 61 gallons of ice melt, 192 cans of deicer and 13,000 gallons of diesel to keep our crews winter prepared.

• MEDIC had additional staff preparing trucks for the road in the logistics department, additional 911 call dispatchers to take calls, and an all-‐hands-‐on-‐deck response from our field supervisors.

• Extra staff made the challenges of taking care of our community when and where our patients need us manageable, given the weather.

• MEDIC had plenty of opportunities to showcase its compassionate care with 83 traffic accidents since Friday, Jan. 7, at 10 p.m. through the weekend. This was in addition to service calls for chest pains, heart attacks and additional medical emergencies that we handle that are not contingent of mother nature.

Charlotte Douglas International Aiport

During Winter Storm Helena, Airport crews worked around the clock to maintain the pavement both on and off the airfield.

• Crews pre-‐treated all of the pavement the night before the storm. Once the precipitation started, our airfield snow crews, made up of our airfield maintenance and development staff, began clearing the runways, taxiways and terminal ramp areas. This work was done continuously during the storm.

• Throughout the storm, Airport crews worked hard to ensure there was always at least one runway open and available for aircraft operations. Two of three parallel runways were open when the airlines started operations on Saturday morning. The airfield snow

crews continued to work through the day Saturday to clear the ice and snow from our third parallel runway and taxiway system so that all of our airfield surfaces were available by Sunday morning.

• On the public side of the Airport, parking, ground transportation and building maintenance snow crews worked hard to keep the roadways and parking lots clear and accessible. Much of this work had to be done by hand with shovels and brooms.

• By Saturday morning, all of the Airport’s roadways and parking lots were clear and passable. Also, the terminal operations team worked closely with all tenant partners to care for our passengers that were stranded here during the storm. On Saturday night, the AIrport cared for approximately 1,400 passengers who missed connections or had their flights cancelled due to the weather.

• It takes a lot of effort by employees to maintain operation during an event. The Airport’s snow teams include more than 350 Aviation Department employees working 12-‐hour shifts that start before the storm

Photo Courtesy of @CLTAirport


and don’t finish until all the pavements are clear and the passengers are cared for, which means we’re never finished when the snow stops falling.

• All of employees know this is part of the job, and they do it without hesitation. The Aiport is very proud of their efforts through the storm.

Engineering and Property Management

Landscape Management received approximately 30 tree calls over the weekend. No major issues with any of them. Tree crews will spend the next two days doing cleanup.

Charlotte Area Transit System

CityLYNX Gold Line streetcar service was suspended for Saturday, Jan. 7, and Sunday, Jan. 8. Services resumed on Monday, Jan. 9.

CATS was able to run almost all regular service during the inclement weather. Only two bus routes had to be detoured due to icy road conditions inside of neighborhoods. CATS was able to maintain 15 minute intervals between light rail trains throughout the day.

Empty LYNX Blue Line trains ran throughout the night to ensure that ice didn’t freeze on the overhead catenary system and regularly scheduled service could continue.