Exercise OnlyContent portal for Luzerne County Emergency Management.

Exercise Only

This Web Map provides the foundation for a Situational Awareness application for Wilkes Barre, PA that can be used by emergency management staff to identify the impact of a flood on public infrastructure and human populations. The Situational Awareness Viewer is a configuration of Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS that can be used to analyze the impact to people and places within an incident area. The application can be configured within ArcGIS Online or deployed on-premises.This web map is based on a flood hazard assessment of Luzerne County, PA.

Populations along the Susquehanna River Basin, which includes areas of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, reside in one of the most flood prone areas in the United States. Major floods have occurred about every 15 years and flash floods are a consistent threat. Luzerne County, PA communities have long histories of flood emergencies, as the river bisects the county and tributaries are spread throughout. Based on the existing models and historical data, flood protection and management are already high priorities. However, rapidly changing demographics and unpredictable environmental conditions expose the need for more detailed and constantly evolving models for emergency preparedness and response.

This Hazard Analysis of Luzerne County augments the existing flood hazard area models with two additional critical factors for consideration. First, areas with vulnerable populations are identified using the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's (ATSDR) 2014 Social Vulnerability Index. This data model incorporates a variety of socioeconomic indicators as part of an analytical matrix that measures the potential resilience of communities facing emergency conditions. All tracts are given a percentile rank (0= Lowest Vulnerability to 1=Highest Vulnerability) for fifteen variables. Four major theme rankings (Socioeconomic, Housing Composition and Disability, Minority Status & Language, and Housing & Transportation) are compiled as a sum of the variables for each theme. An overall percentile ranking is determined for each tract. For the purposes of this study, Natural Breaks classification was used to group tracts with similar overall tract scores. All tracts with overall ratings above .7372 (top 2 of 5 classes) are defined as “High Vulnerability”, with populations that are at the highest risk during crisis level events of any kind. In addition, critical infrastructure locations are identified and mapped.

Given the incalculable value of human life and importance of essential infrastructure to response and recovery, both the “High Vulnerability” areas and critical emergency locations layers are intersected with a layer of flood hazard areas from the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. The Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) that intersect with High Vulnerability areas are defined as “High Hazard Areas”.

The United States National Grid (USNG) for Luzerne County is also available as a comparative layer.

About the SFHA

The land area covered by the floodwaters of the base flood is the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) on NFIP maps. The SFHA is the area where the National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP's) floodplain management regulations must be enforced and the area where the mandatory purchase of flood insurance applies.

What is the SVI?

Social vulnerability refers to the resilience of communities when confronted by external stresses on human health, stresses such as natural or human-caused disasters, or disease outbreaks. Reducing social vulnerability can decrease both human suffering and economic loss. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's (ATSDR) Social Vulnerability Index uses U.S. census variables at tract level to help local officials identify communities that may need support in preparing for hazards or recovering from disaster.

What is the USNG?

The United States National Grid (USNG) is a point reference system of grid references commonly used in the United States. It provides a nationally consistent language of location in a user-friendly format. It is similar in design to the national grid reference systems used throughout other nations.

Data Sources

US Homeland Infrastructure Foundation Level Data (HIFLD Open Data Portal)

Emergency Shelters Emergency Services Hospitals Fire Stations Police Stations Colleges and Universities Private Schools Public Schools

ATSDR 2014 Social Vulnerability Index (link)

FEMA Flood Map Service Center (link)

The United States National Grid (USNG) (link)

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map indexes for Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties in Pennsylvania. This contains the cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Hazleton and include other smaller communities. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps were made for fire insurance purposes. This tool maps the index sheets as a finding aid to help users locate the sheets in Penn State University Libraries digital collections. https://libraries.psu.edu/about/collections/sanborn-fire-insurance-mapsContact ul-maps@lists.psu.edu with questions.See the entire storymap called "Luzerne and Lackawanna County Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps" for all years and towns.This mosaic contains the volumes for the years 1926-1933, including:Ashley, 1926Avoca, 1926Carbondale, 1930Clarks Summit, 1933Dupont, 1926Duryea, 1926Forest, 1927Freeland, 1929Glen Lyon, 1928Kingston, 1930Miners Mills, 1926Nanticoke, 1928Old Forge, 1927Parsons, 1926Shickshinny, 1928Sugar Notch, 1927White Haven, 1927Wyoming, 1927