Prepare before severe storms strike
Emergency personnel spent four days acting as if Mother Nature was bearing down on the state and they were tasked with mitigating the disaster as part of a training exercise.
"Trainings like this help us manage our incidents because it allows us to practice without true critical situations on the line," said
Since starting in the position in 1993, Deno has spent countless hours training for the worst, then using those skills to help
"To get credentialed in these positions, there is a process and a task book they have to complete and show proficiency. A lot of people were there to get their credentials and make them available to deploy in the event of a major incident," Deno said. "So the biggest thing was remembering not everyone is at the same skill level in the exercise and it was a learning environment, but everyone had something they could learn from it."
During the exercise, the facilitators threw real-life curve balls at the teams like power outages, limited resources and nagging reporters. Deno said working with strangers also was realistic since deployments or requests for assistance mean working side-by-side with officials from different areas.
"I may get a call today at
"But just because I may know some things, there are things I don't know and someone on my team might."
While the four-day training centered around a hurricane scenario in
"When we think about the situations that can happen in major storms, the same can happen in minor storms but with less severity," he said. "We can take the experience and the training and scale it down to handle incidents more efficiently and favorably."
And while there still are 83 days until hurricane season starts, this week was declared Severe Weather Preparedness Week across
"Severe thunderstorms involve a variety of weather conditions such as hail, flash floods and tornadoes,"
In 2017, the
Deno urged residents to prepare now for an emergency by visiting ReadyNC.org and getting tips on developing emergency plans and supply kits.
"For an emergency, you need to have set locations to meet in case your family is separated and you need to have someone out of the area that everyone in your family knows to contact," he said. "Think through what you'll do if the power goes out, if you lose water and such. If Grandma needs oxygen or medications she can't live without, plan ahead.
"It is our job as emergency managers to put that information out there, but it is their job to actually prepare."
Ensuring plans include needs of babies -- such as formula and diapers -- as well as animals is essential. In addition to essential documents, Deno said having food and water to last at least three days is important, but so is a way to open cans and cook without power.
"Choose food that doesn't necessarily have to be cooked in case your grill is destroyed or something," he said. "Historically, city water hasn't gone down, but it can. There could be a problem, so you need to plan ahead by filling your bathtub with water when a storm is on the horizon. If you have medicine that needs to be refrigerated, get a good-quality cooler and freeze two-liter bottles to keep your insulin from spoiling for a few days.
"Look at storm preparations like an insurance policy. You have insurance on your car and your house, but the best insurance you can have in the case of severe weather is being prepared."
Signing up for the county's Code Red emergency alert system is recommended and can be done at www.wilson-co.com/departments/emergency-management/.
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