RALEIGH – Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that preparations for Hurricane Irene are well under way by North Carolina Emergency ManagemManagement officials.
“We will be ready if Hurricane Irene reaches North Carolina,” Perdue said. “Our teams are already lining up supplies, trucks and resources to reach anywhere the storm might touch.”
Perdue has directed state Emergency Management officials to take steps including:
• Placing the North Carolina National Guard personnel on standby;
• Establishing coordination with the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service;
• Bringing FEMA’s coordinating officer into the Emergency Operations Center, which is standard practice.
• Starting daily video teleconference calls with FEMA National and FEMA Region 4 (Southeast);
• Checking and updating equipment at the Emergency Management warehouse (water, MREs, cots, blankets, portable toilets, sandbags and bagging machines, generators.);
• Planning where to pre-position food, water and other supplies;
• Making plans to activate the NCEM Regional Coordination Center in Kinston. The RCC coordinates with the counties to see what they need.
• Ordering the State Emergency Response Team to activate Thursday morning. SERT is composed of all involved state agencies, private sector and volunteer organizations, such as: NCDOT, DENR, Agriculture, Commerce, utility companies, Red Cross and Baptist Men.
• Begin checking with public water and wastewater treatment operations to see if they need assistance before or after the storm.
• Developing 24-hour staffing plans through the weekend.
• If needed, the Perdue is prepared to issue executive orders declaring a state of emergency, which allows the state to tap into federal resources to recover from the storm, and enacting other emergency measures to make it easier to restore power, remove debris and transport essential goods and services.
For guidance or suggestions on hurricane preparations, please go to www.readync.org or www.nccrimecontrol.com and click on “emergency info.”