County braces for Matthew
By From staff reports
Published in News on October 5, 2016 10:02 AM
As Hurricane Matthew charges toward the eastern coast of the United States, the National Weather Service in Raleigh is forecasting heavy winds and rains for Goldsboro and Wayne County.
Meteorologist Kathleen Carroll said the worst of the storm will happen from midnight Friday through the entirety of Saturday night.
"Right now we have for Wayne County anywhere from three to six inches of rainfall," Carroll said. "The wind will be anywhere from 35 miles per hour to 50 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 50 to 60 miles per hour."
County and city officials are preparing for Hurricane Matthew.
Tuesday morning Wayne County Manager George Wood said the county is making preparation as well because, "we know everybody is concerned."
"(Office of Emergency Services Director) Mel (Powers), (interim Assistant County Manager) Phil (Ponder) and I met yesterday (Monday) about this," Wood told Wayne County commissioners during their Tuesday morning session. "They are going to have a meeting with the sheriff and other public safety officials today.
"Mel is going to monitor the situation and then if it looks like we are going to be impacted, which it is starting to look that way, then tomorrow (Wednesday) we will have meetings with our department heads. We want to go over our emergency operations plan -- just make sure that every department head is reminded what their responsibilities are in that plan if we have to activate it."
However, later on Tuesday, Wood said the Wednesday meeting had been canceled since county department heads were already scheduled to meet on Thursday.
Instead of holding two meeting, the decision was made just to hold the Thursday meeting to review the emergency operations plan, he said.
Powers will make the decision as to if, and when, the emergency operations center would be activated, Wood said.
Goldsboro leaders are starting to prepare for any potential impacts from Hurricane Matthew that could lead to area flooding and other hazardous conditions later in the week.
"We're preparing now, and we're waiting," said Jose Martinez, city public works director. "We are doing as much proactive work as possible, and the storm will dictate what we're going to do."
City street crews have already been clearing out storm drains and are
The city manager will meet today with department heads, including fire, police, public works and utilities, to review storm response and recovery plans.
"Overall, they need to ensure their equipment and employees are ready to respond, meaning tools and equipment needs to be checked out and if not used for a while, vehicles fueled and employees need to ensure their families are ready as well," said Scott Stevens, city manager.
City street and solid waste crews, most likely to respond to area flooding and downed trees, are checking the city's fleet of vehicles and equipment, including chainsaws that would be used to cut back any debris blocking roadways or contributing to area flooding.
Crews have already been working to clear storm drains of debris and trash.
The public works team will meet Thursday, as the track of the hurricane becomes more defined, and determine whether employees will work around the clock Friday and Saturday, Martinez said.
Later in the week, public works crews will also be assigned to focus on clearing roads based on priority, especially some of the city's busiest thoroughfares.
City officials will also decide whether to activate an emergency operations center to best coordinate response efforts, Stevens said.
"(The) public needs to ready themselves and be prepared for three to four days of self-containment, as encouraged by state and federal agencies," Stevens said.
Mount Olive Mayor Ray McDonald Sr. said during Monday's night's town board meeting that he, Town Manager Charles Brown and Public Works Director Jammie Royall met that morning to talk about the storm.
"Jammie is in the process of getting all of the drains cleaned off," McDonald said. "One thing, even if we don't get a hurricane, we are going to get a lot of rain. So it is not something that you can put aside. We have already started on it.
"The other thing is I am looking into the possibility as to where we can have a shelter for people who live alone and that get kind of shook up over these kinds of things."
McDonald said he was trying to see if might be possible to use the National Guard Armory as a shelter.
Duke Energy officials said that its preparations include checking equipment, supplies and inventories to ensure it has adequate materials to make repairs and restore power in case of outrages.
"Crews from across the Carolinas, Midwest and Florida are preparing and are ready to move to wherever the storm may affect our customers," Bobby Simpson, Duke Energy's storm director for the Carolinas, said in a press release.
Customers can call Duke Energy's automated outage-reporting system to report emergencies such as downed poles or power lines.
The numbers are Duke Energy Carolinas at 800-769-3765 or Duke Energy Progress at 800-419-6356.
The company's online outage website is www.duke-energy.com/outages