Incident Management Team

Elwood battles sand boils

ELWOOD, Kan. — The water war raged on Tuesday as the Kansas All Hazard Incident Management Team and levee officials continued building a sand berm to remove sand boils from a levee south of Elwood.

Construction workers were attempting to complete an access road along the Elwood-Gladden levee in order to build the sand berm today. Officials continue to monitor the levee to find abnormalities that increase the flooding risk.

“At this time, the levee is functioning well within its designed perimeters and there are no problems,” said DeAnn Konkel, public information officer with Kansas IMT. “(Construction officials built) a haul road, approximately 613 feet long, to haul sand to problematic sand boils that we could not conquer before to due fluctuation in the river levels.”

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On Sunday, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discovered 17 sand boils near the levee, which could have caused problems, Ms. Konkel said. A Kansas Wildlife & Parks airboat ferried volunteers and materials to the various sites to combat the sand boils.

“There were a total of 45 volunteers that worked the sand boil issue on Sunday for a total of 165 hours,” she said. “The successful operation consisted of placing sandbag rings around the boils and barrels over the boils to control them.”

A sand boil is an area along a river or levee where water, under pressure, seeps or wells up through a bed of sand or soil. It can pose a serious threat to a levee.

Overall, 363 volunteers have worked a total of 1,558 hours between May 19 and July 10 to patrol the levee. Kansas IMT and Elwood-Gladen Drainage District officials continue to identify and monitor sand boils several times within every 24-hour period.

“The most routine way to elevate sand boils is to place sandbags around a sand boil and equalize the pressure,” said Eileen Hawley, with Kansas IMT, adding that volunteers alleviated the sand boil by Sunday evening.

Workers continue building the sand berm.

“This is routine procedure to operate the levee under flood conditions,” Ms. Konkel said. “We are right on schedule with the (sand berm) and should have it completed in the next nine to 10 days.”

Also Tuesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that water releases from Galvins Point Dam will begin decreasing on July 29 to 150,000 cubic feet per second by Aug. 1.

Incident management team issues special announcement warning Jemez

This afternoon, the Type 1 incident management team for the south zone of the Las Conchas Fire issued a “special announcement” for Jemez residents, alerting them of increasing fire activity along the southwestern portion of the perimeter of the Las Conchas Fire. The northern limit of the zone of increasing activity begins two miles south of the fire’s ignition point at Las Conchas, roughly at the north end of Peralta Ridge, at the communications towers, and stretches south along Peralta Ridge, turning to the east around Bearhead Peak. The zone of increasing activity begins about 3.5 miles southeast of Sierra los Piños, eight miles southeast of La Cueva, and roughly nine miles east of Jemez Springs. The map above indicates the limit to the north and south zones of increasing fire behavior. From the incident management team:

Over the past few days, we have been expecting rain to aid us in suppressing the southern edge of the Las Conchas fire.  While other parts of the fire have received rain, the South Zone has received very little.  Last night, we experienced lower than expected humidity recovery and very windy conditions in the Southern Zone.  As a result of these factors, fire activity is increasing.  This is especially obvious in the areas between Peralta Ridge and Colle Canyon.  To direct the fire movement and to keep the fire within the planned containment line established along Forest Road 266, fire managers are adjusting suppression tactics for this portion of the fire. This afternoon, firefighters will begin burnout operations in two areas to limit the fire’s spread.  Burnouts will begin on the west side of the active area, along Peralta Ridge Trail and on the east side near La Jara Canyon.  Aerial ignition will continue as it has over the past few days between the burns as the fire slowly moves down slope toward the containment line established along Forest road 266.  quotes Preserve management as claiming that Park Service could put VCNP programs at risk; editors respond by deriding managers’ statements as “less than convincing” and “laughable”

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