Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

WORLAND – County, town and city officials and first responders from Washakie and Big Horn counties met on Monday to review flood planning and threats for 2018, and heard from Office of Homeland Security Director Guy Cameron and Deputy Director Larry Marjerus on emergency management going forward.

After a heavy flood-event year in 2017, which saw major flooding in both Worland and Manderson, and elevated flooding in Basin, Homeland Security officials, including Washakie County Coordinator Jeff Schweighart and Big Horn County Coordinator LaRae Dobbs, joined Cameron and Marjerus in briefing over 20 officials on flood status for 2018, and highlighting sources of possible emergency management incidents in the area.

“Your efforts to prepare last year, frankly, saved lives,” noted Cameron, during discussion of record flooding along the Big Horn River in 2017.

As a source of mitigation to avoid future flooding, the county and city of Worland removed 1.3 acres of silt material from the river, which was a previous catalyst for ice jams and continual flooding, growing steadily over the last three years. An initial survey of the mass estimated over 18,700 cubic yards of material had built up, at a depth of five feet.

“The removal of the silt bar was the best mitigation effort of 2017,” noted Schweighart, during a briefing on current, forecasted flood conditions for 2018.

According to a threat assessment compiled by the state, the snow-to-water equivalent is down to 115 percent of normal this year, as compared to 139 percent a year ago.

“The good news is the snow is not as dense as last year,” said Cameron, who also noted that “a rapid warm-up or a ‘rain on snow’ event could cause an impact on our current snowpack” and cause minor flooding.

Schweighart also noted that due to budget restraints, the United State Geological Survey river monitors at Worland and Basin will be discontinued, which currently help monitor rate of flow.

Fire Chief Chris Kocher explained the Firewise grant, and how it will help determine and combat fire threats in the county.

According to Firewise.org, the governing agency, the program is designed to implement the National Fire Plan and assist communities at risk from catastrophic wildland fires. The program provides grants, technical assistance, and training for community programs that develop local capability, including:

Assessment and planning, mitigation activities, and community and homeowner education and action; Hazardous fuels reduction activities, including the training, monitoring or maintenance associated with such hazardous fuels reduction activities, on federal land, or on adjacent nonfederal land for activities that mitigate the threat of catastrophic fire to communities and natural resources in high risk areas; Enhancement of knowledge and fire protection capability of rural fire districts through assistance in education and training, protective clothing and equipment purchase, and mitigation methods on a cost share basis.

Deputy Director Marjerus explained the operational system to provide emergency responses to a wide variety of threats covered under the Office of Homeland Security.

“What we tried to do is build a system that works, and it’s the local aspect that actually makes it work,” said Marjerus, noting that the pre-placement of resources in each county, and the coordination of local first responders is the key to success.

Reviewing a list of local asset for flood mitigation and response, it was noted that Ten Sleep currently has 19 pallets of filled sandbags and 2,000 tons of sand; Worland has 111,000 sand bags, 75,000 tons of sand, 63 pallets of full sand bags and 99 Jersey barriers. The county office of Homeland Security has an additional 20,000 sand bags, flood mat material and a filling machine.

Big Horn County currently has 66,000 sand bags and 119 Jersey barriers.