The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service has called for a busier Atlantic hurricane season this year. NOAA forecasted between 17-25 named storms, with eight to 13 becoming hurricanes. Of those, four to seven would be major hurricanes, they said.
And with this in mind, agencies all across Sampson County have been working to prepare for any severe weather that might come this way.
County
Rick Sauer, the director of Emergency Services for Sampson County, said the county is always monitoring what is happening in terms of weather and how it would impact Sampson County.
“We get daily briefings in the morning from North Carolina Emergency Management. We get bi-weekly briefings from the National Weather Service,” Sauer pointed out.
And if they see an increase in weather activity, those briefings will also start to increase.
“So, like, with the National Weather Service, we could potentially do a briefing every day depending on the track of the storm,” Sauer explained. “Plus, there’s always correspondence going back via email with the updates from the National Hurricane Center and other resources as well.”
The activity isn’t just for hurricanes, Sauer was quick to say. The staff at Emergency Services is monitoring activity for severe thunderstorms, flooding, potential for tornadoes and other things of that nature. If they see a hike in those activities, then it’s time to for preparation.
“If things start to increase, we’ve developed what we call a battle plan that’s five to seven days out, as the certainty increases of where it may be the greatest impact. We’ll start looking at that closer, and then we’ll start making some decisions and we’ll bring in some additional staff to watch and then we’ll start making some plans,” Sauer said.
The making of those plans will be done by a control group made up of eight of the highest-ranking department heads, Sauer said. These department heads will meet and decide whether or not shelters need to be opened, recommend evacuations, if needed, or notify the public of potential flooding or other potential hazards.
“We’ll meet, we’ll make some decisions and then we’ll carry out those decisions,” Sauer summed up.
But how does the information this group puts together go out into the county? Three different ways, according to Sauer — through a subscription-based texting service, through social media or through the website for Sampson County.
One of the options is Rave, a subscription-based notification system. Rave is a mobile-based system that allows people to sign up for text notifications.
“We encourage folks in the county to go to our webpage and sign up for it (Rave). And then when we know of impending storms or activity, we will send information out,” Sauer explained.
He mentioned that no unnecessary information would get sent out over the notification system, and that it will only be information necessary for the public to know during an emergency.
A second option is the Sampson County Emergency Services social media pages.
Run by the county’s public information officer, Sauer said posts are to the Facebook page and Twitter (account), “and those types of things.”
The last option for people to use for weather-related information is the Sampson County website. The updates version of the website that was launched earlier this summer will have more information for residents to find in the case of an emergency.
“And I think a lot of people are connected to social media and to the internet with their apps. They’re paying attention to what’s going on as well,” Sauer said.
And paying attention and being prepared is something that falls on people to do. While the county can monitor the situations and make judgement calls based on what they feel is best for the area, the people within the county have to make sure they are prepared for any severe weather, be it a hurricane or something else that may come their way.
In order to do this, Sauer pointed out two websites that would be the most helpful for people to utlize. The first is ready.gov, a federal website done through FEMA. The second is readync.gov, which a website ran by the North Carolina government that focuses on North Carolina residents instead of the United States as a whole. Both websites will give useful tips on how to prepare for severe weather.
For example, readync.gov has a guide specifically for hurricanes. This guide goes over several concepts, including breaking down the difference between watches and warnings, tropical weather impacts, how to stay safe at home, how to safely evacuate, insurance tips, how to build an emergency supply kit and more.
The other website, ready.gov, has tips for multiple pages filled with information and tips to follow for natural disasters that span across the United States. On the website’s hurricane page, they show the timeframe for the different hurricane seasons, how to prepare for hurricanes, how to stay safe during a hurricane and what to do when returning home if you evacuated. There are also links to additional resources people can find useful.
“We stress that people should have a plan in place and not be shocked if weather conditions deteriorate quickly,” Sauer said. “You should have a plan in place if you know your living in a low-lying area where there’s a potential for flooding. Or maybe you’re in a home that can’t sustain a significant amount of winds, that you have a plan to go to a relative’s place and move out of that area so nobody get’s hurt.”
He mentioned that if you plan to shelter in place instead of evacuating, you should have five to seven days of emergency supplies since the county may not be able to get to everyone quickly if the weather gets worse.
These supplies include food, water, medication, baby formula, diapers and pet food.
Electricity
And while people at the county level monitor the weather and situations that may start to escalate, area utility companies are doing the same and doing year-round preparations in case of severe weather. Sampson County has three different companies working to keep the lights on for everyone. These companies include Duke Energy, Four County Electric Membership Corporation and South River Electric Membership Corporation.
Catherine O’Dell, the vice president of member services and public relations at South River Electric Membership Corporation, mentioned that there are year-round programs the company does to minimize outages.
“There’s some things that we do year-round to have us prepare for storms,” O’Dell stated. “Year-round we have an on-going right of way program which means that we’re constantly trimming trees to make sure they are not a threat to our powerlines and our equipment. That’s especially important when a storm comes through. We also have a pretty aggressive preventive maintenance program for our vehicles and our equipment. So, when there is threat of a storm, our crews, if they have time, they go ahead and make sure that their vehicles are packed up with everything that they need so they are ready to deploy as soon as needed.”
O’Dell mentioned that depending on the type of storm, the company will also make arrangements for their staff. This can include bringing in additional line crews from other parts of the state and arrangements for food and lodging.
The company will also help in restoration efforts in any way possible, as long as it is safe to do so.
“We go ahead and dispatch crews as needed to, as long as the conditions don’t become unsafe,” O’Dell said.
She also mentioned that the company will monitor wind speeds, how hard it is raining, flooding and lightning to make sure it is safe to send the crews out.
“We measure wind speeds throughout the area and keep an eye on that because we cannot put a bucket up in the air after a certain speed. And then also how torrential the rain is, lightning. That type of thing. Also flooding, flooding is also a concern. So, we keep an eye on all of that,” she said.
But if the power does go out, O’Dell said that it’s important for consumers to report their outage. This can be done by texting, through the mobile app, through their member portal or by calling.
It is also a good idea, O’Dell mentioned, to have supplies on hand. Of course, she said having water and non-perishable food items is a must, but people also need a back-up if they are medically dependent on electricity.
“If they are medially dependent on electricity, then certainly we would recommend that they have some sort of backup. Whether it’s battery supply for at least an additional 24 hours or backup power in the form of a generator. And if neither of those are possible, then we certainly would recommend that they have a secondary location to go to in the event of an outage,” she said.
It’s also best to be cautious going outside in the dark. O’Dell said that there could be downed power lines if the power is out and there has been high wind. And if you see a downed powerline, it is best to immediately report it and avoid it at all costs.
And once the outage reports start coming through, the electric company will start assessing the outages and how to bring back power to the largest groups of people at a time.
“If we have a transmission line that’s out, we look at that first because the transmission line brings power to our substation. We focus on that because we can bring thousands of people up with a transmission line. Same with a substation. Once we focus on getting substations up, then we look at the individual lines and getting those back to power. And last, we focus on individual outages,” O’Dell said.
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