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Basin-Wide Flood
Warning System |
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Floods or potential flood conditions that have occurred
during the past decade escalated the need for modern
enhancements to provide |
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forewarnings
of threatening flood
conditions to communities
which could be subject to flooding conditions
during periods of heavy
inclement weather. The overall purpose of the Flood Warning System (FWS)
in southeast Alabama is
to provide timely, |
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reliable, and accurate warnings to
persons residing along the Choctawhatchee, Pea and
Yellow Rivers.
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The FWS was a cooperative effort by the
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, and the
Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow Rivers Watershed
Management Authority. It was designed and installed by
the Corps of Engineers in 1993. It is the responsibility
of the Watershed Management Authority to operate and
maintain all components of the system to ensure that it
is fully capable of identifying and forecasting
potential flood conditions.
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The system covers the largest area in
the State of Alabama and is the first basin-wide flood
warning system installed in the state. It consists of
eighteen gauging sites along or near rivers or streams
in the previously mentioned river basins. These gauges
electronically monitor, individually or in combination,
rainfall, stream levels or depths, or stream flow in
cubic feet per second. Base computers located in New
Brockton, Elba, and Geneva, Alabama receive data from
the field gauges and provide this information to the
base operators. Data can be disseminated real time to
local Emergency Management Agencies, local officials,
and the National Weather Service (NWS). It is also used
to make forecasts of stream levels.
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The home base of the system is located
in the Coffee County Emergency Management office in New
Brockton, Alabama. The Coffee County Emergency
Management Agency also provides some of the funding for
the operation and maintenance of the system. During periods of heavy weather which
could pose a threat of possible flood conditions, the
Flood Warning System Specialist, Don L. Hyde,
monitors the system constantly and distributes data to
the NWS, local EMA offices, as well as, other agencies
requiring said data. The information is disseminated by
telephone or by radio communications provided by the EMA
network.
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The Flood Warning System Specialist
issues no warnings. The NWS has the formal and legal
authority to monitor potential flood threats and to
issue formal flood warnings in these river systems. The
NWS and the respective EMA offices issue all warnings
and bulletins.
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Contact
Information |
Mr. Don L. Hyde
c/o Coffee County Emergency Management Agency
No. 8 County Complex
New Brockton, AL 36351
(334) 894-6705
(334) 470-0489 |
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| The Flood Warning System contains current and
historical data for rainfall and river levels along the
river basins.
Click here to obtain
the data. |
You may access the NWS web site at
http://water.weather.gov/ahps for additional information and
flood warnings which have been recently issued.
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Please e-mail questions to:
cpyrwma@co.coffee.al.us |
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