LUMBERTON — Local officials are taking precautions to prepare for the possibility of Hurricane Dorian’s arrival next week.
The Robeson County Emergency Operation Center staff met Friday morning with county administration, department managers and law enforcement to discuss hurricane preparedness, said Stephanie Chavis, Robeson County Emergency Management director.
“Making sure everyone has equipment ready to go” in the event Hurricane Dorian comes toward Robeson County was the meeting’s goal, she said.
“Cots were sanitized, wrapped and ready to be shipped out,” Chavis said.
The county has agreed to open shelters for residents of counties along the coast that may be hit hard by Hurricane Dorian, Chavis said.
“We’re asking everybody just to monitor the storm and to listen to their televisions and radios,” she said.
Chavis also encourages residents who have not already done so to sign up for the county’s CodeRED Emergency Notification System.
“It’s very important because with CodeRED, they’ll get weather alerts, but they’ll also get local alerts,” she said.
According to the county’s website, the CodeRED Emergency Notification System is a “ultra high-speed telephone communication service” for emergency notifications from county officials.
Local information includes the locations of shelters, important contact information, and alerts to seek shelter or evacuate, she said.
If residents have “no access to the internet, then they need CodeRED,” Chavis said.
Chavis said more preparedness actions will be determined Sunday, when the hurricane is closer.
Inventory was taken on rescue and disaster equipment, which needed to be done following Hurricane Florence anyway, she said.
The department is “trying to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” she said.
It will be days before it is known if Dorian will pivot north toward North Carolina, said Doug Hoehler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Wilmington. If the storm is going to pivot it will be after it hits Florida, which should be early next week.
“If we get anything it will be late in the week, Thursday or Friday,” he said.
Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency that suspends certain Department of Transportation regulations, and thus prepared the state for relief efforts to assist Dorian’s victims in Florida.
“I hope that everybody will go ahead and prepare as if we are going to get something,” Chavis said.
Residents should purchase batteries, water and non-perishables in preparation of the possibility that Hurricane Dorian, or the storm’s remnants, will hit Robeson County, she said. Residents should be reminded to service their generators and to never run them inside their homes.
“We are all in awareness mode and preparation/planning stages,” said Cassandra Campbell, executive director for Robeson County Disaster Committee.
The committee is a nonprofit specializing in providing disaster recovery to survivors.
On Monday, the National Voluntary Organizations Active In Disaster, which is composed of Emergency Management and local nonprofits and business partners, will take part in a conference phone call to discuss Hurricane Dorian updates and the appropriate safety measures to be taken, she said.
Organizations are taking a more “cooperative and collaborative approach” to this hurricane, Campbell said. The new approach was developed after experiences with hurricanes Matthew and Florence.
Forecasters warned Friday that Dorian could wallop Florida with “extremely dangerous” 140 mph winds and torrential rains late Monday or early Tuesday, with millions of people in the cross-hairs along with Walt Disney World and President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Some computer models predicted a turn northward that would have Dorian hug the coast, delivering a glancing blow, the National Hurricane Center said.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, Dorian was centered about 595 miles east of West Palm Beach with winds of 115 mph. It was moving northwest at 9 mph. Forecasters warned that its slow movement could subject Florida to a prolonged and destructive pummeling from wind, storm surge and heavy rain.
