The federal funding Congressman Gerry Connolly has secured for the Town of Occoquan may not be the largest appropriation Congress will pass this year, but the $25,000 project will protect hundreds of lives of Occoquan residents and tourists who would be imperiled by flood waters if the Occoquan River Dam burst its seams.

At the request of Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta and the Town Council, Congressman Connolly sought federal funding in the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill to pay for the installation of a siren warning system to alert local residents in Occoquan and other downstream communities in the event of a failure of the Occoquan River Dam, located approximately one-mile upstream from the town.

A recent emergency action exercise conducted by the Town and Fairfax Water, operator of the dam, revealed that flood waters resulting from a catastrophic failure of the dam could sweep the Town’s historic merchant district within 5 to 10 minutes with waves as high as 47 feet.  Even in a best case scenario presuming that the river is at its lowest level, flood waves of 19-feet-high or more would overrun the Town and other downriver neighborhoods like Belmont Bay.
 
“This may be a small federal appropriation by Congressional standards, but for the Town of Occoquan and its citizens and businesses it’s a priceless lifesaver,” Connolly said.  “This siren project will add a substantial margin of safety for the citizens who live and work in Occoquan’s downtown district as well as the visitors who often crowd the town’s streets and shops.  A wall of water sweeping through the Town and other Prince William County neighborhoods could have devastating consequences if there was no advance warning to prompt an evacuation.”

Local officials, including Occoquan Mayor Porta and Vice Mayor Ken Brunsvold, were pleased that Connolly had secured the congressional appropriation for the dam failure warning system, which will be funded from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program.
“A public warning system to notify downstream communities of a catastrophic dam failure is something that people have been talking about here for more than a decade, but until now nothing has come of it” Porta said. “We’re extremely grateful to Congressman Connolly for securing the funding necessary to move this important project forward.”

Brunsvold said, “We appreciate Congressman Connolly’s work to help us on this.  A sudden dam failure is something you certainly hope will never happen, but when you’re a community just a few minutes downstream, a warning for such an event is critical.”

The House-Senate conference report on the Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 2892), which passed the House on Thursday (October 15), is expected to pass the Senate shortly and be sent to the President for his signature.

The legislation also makes key investments to protect the security of the nation’s borders, aviation system, ports, transit, and increases funding to assist communities in maintaining adequate fire fighting and emergency medical personnel.

The legislation also prohibits Guantanamo Bay detainees from being released into or transferred to the United States, except for the purpose of prosecution.  Before a detainee can be transferred to the U.S. for prosecution, the bill requires that Congress receive a plan detailing the risks involved and a plan to mitigate such risk and the U.S. Attorney General must certify to the governor of the state where the prosecution will take place that the individual poses little or no security risk.