AbWARN.org

OTTAWA - The spectre of homegrown radicals hovered over the suburbs of Canada’s capital city Wednesday as police took two people into custody on terrorism-related allegations amid predictions more arrests were imminent.

A few kilometres away, a police car sat outside an apartment building Wednesday afternoon where a second raid was carried out.

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If any lessons can be drawn from the spring flood that laid waste to a good portion of southern Alberta it is this: Governments, at all levels, are ill-prepared to deal with disasters.
On paper, of course, it all looks so good. There are emergency plans in place. Emergency response teams are ready to roll. There are emergency assistance plans. On and on it goes.
The trouble, however, comes when it is time to put plans into play. They just don’t seem to work.

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There are several new articles in the pro subscriber section of WaterISAC.  One is on myths and commonly held assumptions and another is titled utility security background checks.

The level of background checks that your utility conducts on it’s employees, which position and the frequency of the checks are all considerations under your security program.

Toronto fire crews worked through the night to stop a massive diesel spill from flowing into Lake Ontario.A passerby reportedly smelled the fumes and looked down at the river from a bridge and noticed the water was an odd colour.

The spill is apparently under control now.

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One thing I love about working in the water industry is the flood of good names/associations you can make to almost everything you deal with, like our “tapping” word in the title.  There is a constant stream of ideas and it is not hard to stay afloat with ideas.

Last night two Canadian cities, Calgary and Halifax, participated in a teleconference regarding an exercise that was being conducted in Australia.  The scenario was a cyanide spill into a wastewater treatment plant.  Water utilities from across Australia, and our two Canadian cities participated by receiving situation report and background information updates and then having a 1 hour teleconference. 

The point of the exercise was collaboration and shared thoughts/experiences on how to deal with the situation.  There were many great points raised and issued discussed during the teleconference, and it showed how we can utilize the entire sector’s knowledge to make better, faster decisions.

I would like to once again thank David Parsons of Sydney water for inviting his Canadian cousins, and hope to be able to soon bring the same kind of experience, and relationship building methods to AbWARN members.

Keep your noses above the water,

-Jared

On July 19-20, media reported that security experts are closely monitoring a zero-day flaw being used in targeted attacks against organizations worldwide, most notably on SCADA systems. Security experts are concerned that the threat could spread further. Concerns about additional attacks using the so-called “LNK” vulnerability in Windows machines via USB devices and fileshares prompted the SANS Internet Storm Center today to raise its Infocon alert level to “yellow,” up from “green” (normal status). SANS decision to elevate the alert level was to help raise awareness of the vulnerability, which Microsoft officially revealed on Friday after security researchers reported finding new malware samples that could infect a Windows 7 machine via an infected USB drive. SANS’ yellow alert indicates that it is tracking a significant, new threat, and that users should take “immediate specific action” to contain any impact of the threat.
Source article – Techworld, July 20, 2010
Source article – DarkReading, July 19, 2010

On July 6, the Government of Alberta announced that two new provincial disaster recovery programs totaling $203.5 million will help citizens and municipalities in southern Alberta recover from recent flooding and severe weather.  The $200 million 2010 Southern Alberta Disaster Recovery Program will provide assistance to Albertans for severe overland flooding that followed a series of intense rainstorms from June 15 to June 21.  In addition, the $3.5 million 2010 Spring South Eastern Alberta Disaster Recovery Program will provide assistance to Albertans who experienced overland flooding due to extreme amounts of snow and rain from April 13 to May 31. The Disaster Recovery Program is a province wide program that assists municipalities, residents and small businesses in recovering uninsurable losses from severe weather events.
Source article – Government of Alberta

To update on Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report DIR10-119, on June 22, the Calgary Herald reported clean-up efforts were underway for Medicine Hat; however the local state of emergency remains. Some parks and roads remain closed. The priority is on assessing the damage to homes and businesses; however, it is still unknown how long it will be before flood-stained buildings are considered safe. The Edmonton Journal reported that portions of the Trans-Canada Highway reopened on June 22. The artery was open to local traffic only and the crossing into Saskatchewan remained closed.

The National Post reported that CP Rail was rerouting freight traffic, some via other carriers, after flooding damaged its transcontinental line. CP had its tracks between Maple Creek, in southwestern Saskatchewan, and Medicine Hat, in southeastern Alberta, knocked out on June 18. CP was unsure how long the line would be closed but issued a service bulletin on June 20 indicating that it was expected to be out for at least three days. CP was redirecting traffic, which includes grain, cars and consumer goods, onto its own northern line as well over lines in Canada and the United States.

On June 22, Alberta Environment issued a Flood Warning Update, which indicated that a High Streamflow Advisory was issued for the South Saskatchewan River including the City of Medicine Hat and for all tributaries flowing north out of the Cypress Hills.
Source article – Calgary Herald, June 23, 2010
Source article – Edmonton Journal, June 23, 2010
Source article – National Post, June 23, 2010
Source article – Radio-Canada, June 22, 2010
Source article – Alberta Environment, June 22, 2010

Public Safety Canada Geomatics provides a map of the affected areas.

For Alberta, the AMA provides current road reports.

For Saskatchewan, the Government of Saskatchewan provides current road reports.

On June 21, the Calgary Herald reported that Medicine Hat remains under a flood warning after days of heavy rain dropped 150 millimetres in some areas, causing massive flooding in the Cypress Hills region in southern Alberta; however, the tributaries that feed the swollen South Saskatchewan River are receding. A state of local emergency also remains after days of evacuations. As many as 44 families in Medicine Hat are still receiving shelter through the Red Cross evacuation centre after being evacuated from their homes. Radio-Canada reported that some residents of Irvine, Alberta, were allowed to return to their homes on June 19. Media reported that several communities in Saskatchewan also declared a state of local emergency, including the town of Maple Creek. Flooding from the heavy rains resulted in the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway between Medicine Hat and the Saskatchewan border, as well as several other roads and an interprovincial park. The floods also washed out parts of the railway causing rail traffic to be re-routed for at least another week. Most areas are reporting declining water levels; however, another 50–70 millimetres of rain have been forecast to fall within the next two days. According to the Calgary Herald, on June 20, the following areas were under declared states of local emergency: Lethbridge Country, Cardston County, Town of Pincher Creek, County of Warner No. 5, Village of Stirling, Village of Duchess, Town of Coaldale, Fort Macleod, Cypress County, Blood Tribe reserve. On June 20, Alberta Environment indicated that a Flood Watch was issued for the South Saskatchewan River including the City of Medicine Hat and a Flood Warning for all tributaries flowing north out of the Cypress Hills. On June 18, the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority issued a High Streamflow Advisory for Saskatchewan. On June 21, Environment Canada issued rainfall warnings and severe thunderstorm watches for several areas in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Source article – Calgary Herald, June 21, 2010
Source article – Radio-Canada, June 20, 2010
Source article – CBC, June 18, 2010
Source article – Calgary Herald, June 20, 2010
Source article – Calgary Herald, June 20, 2010
Source article – Alberta Environment, June 20, 2010
Source article – Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, June 18, 2010
Source article – Environment Canada, June 21, 2010

Fatal flash floods have hit southern-eastern France. Eleven people have died due to the flare of heavy floods. Cause of the floods was the torrential rain that reportedly struck the mountains above the Cote D’Azur on Tuesday.

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