Tropical storm Isaias is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane tomorrow before slamming into the central Gulf Coast Friday night or early Saturday.
Currently, the center of the forecast track puts it just west of the Florida-Alabama line. This afternoon, Sandra Averhart visited the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center to speak with Escambia Emergency Manager Travis Tompkins about local preparations for the storm.
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Sandra Averhart: Tell me what Escambia County is doing to get ready.
Tompkins: So to start off with, we've already started having state calls with the Florida Department of Emergency Management. So we're coordinating with our state partners. We're also having National Weather Service calls. We had another one again today. We brought everybody in today with that call to discuss what our next plans are for the next couple of operational periods. What we've been doing is, of course, we had a lot of rain, you know, that past weekend. And so our public works department and our engineering department, along with the city departments, have been going out and clearing culverts and checking on retention ponds and, in some cases, even pumping out some of the retention ponds because we got a lot of water of course last weekend. So obviously we're concerned about that with this upcoming storm. So there are pre-things that have been done, but now we're looking at what we're going to do for this storm.
And so on Thursday, we are activating the emergency operations center to a level two, which means that we'll have a full staff in here, and it's a 12-hour shift. So we're getting everybody ready to start getting more comfortable in the emergency operations center. A lot of folks, it's the first time they've worked in here, and so we need to get through a shift to, you know, to one to get everybody situated and then to where, when we get impacted that everybody knows exactly what they need to do. We train all year long, but this is, you know, again, it can be a little nerve-wracking. There's a lot of pressure in here, but we try. We have a lot of resources, and we have a really good team.
Averhart: For example, what are some of the agencies that will be assembled here in the EOC?
Tompkins: So all of the county departments, all branches of law enforcement, the city, city fire, city police, we've got the Red Cross, we've got the Salvation Army, Florida Baptist Disaster Relief, all the utility companies, and ECUA, of course. And so we have maximum participation in here. Everybody is working, just pulling on the same rope to make sure that we get the county back up and running as quickly as we can and to serve the citizens.
Averhart: Based on your calls that you've been having with the National Hurricane Center and the State of Florida, what are the main impacts that you're expecting for specifically Escambia County, but this region in general?
Tompkins: Well, for sure a lot of rain, so we're going to get that. And again, I'm concerned about that, obviously, because of the rain that we had last weekend. So downed trees, easier to down power poles, so to speak. You know, with the wind that we're going to be getting along with this storm as well. That's a concern. Some storm surge, of course, and that's always unpredictable. You know, we pay very close attention to the weather constantly. We have a meteorologist on staff with emergency management, and so that greatly helps; she helps break it down. The National Weather Service calls for us to know kind of what more impact we're going to have for Escambia County.
Again, this is a serious thing. Everybody's been talking about ... that this was just going to be a tropical depression and whatnot and so forth, but we planned all along for this to be a hurricane.
Averhart: Would it really matter if it was just a tropical depression or tropical storm?
Tompkins: Well, tropical storm, your wind speed wouldn't be quite as much. You wouldn't maybe have as much storm surge, but you're still going to have a lot of rain. What we always do is plan for the absolute worst-case scenario and just back that down a little bit when we need to.
Averhart: In terms of when it's expected to make landfall, overnight, Friday night, early Saturday morning. Is there a benefit to having it come in over the weekend?
Tompkins: Well, maybe the schools might not be so impacted. Not seen yet what the school district is doing tomorrow. I want to say that that will be a little bit of a less impact with it being over the weekend still. You know, depending on the strength of the storm, really is going to depend on how fast we're going to be able to get everything back up and running.
Averhart: Have you addressed everything that the county is doing to get ready? Is the state sending resources? Are you staging supplies or things like that?
Tompkins: We have requested some high water vehicles from the state, a couple of positions in here that are kind of state-specific, that will help us out with better communication with the state, generators, and as the need progresses. We have a very good relationship with the state of Florida. We've helped them out on a number of occasions, too. They've asked us to deploy to help out some physically constrained counties over the years. And so we know that we can count on them to send in the resources that we request.
Averhart: And so now we turn to what we as residents need to be doing at this point.
Tompkins: So one thing that I'll say right off the bat that I've noticed is that there are so many people that have moved here from the northern part of the country that are really just unaware of what to do. I unfortunately spoke to a neighbor down the street last night, asking him what he was doing to prepare for the storm, and he didn't know there was a storm coming. That is unfortunately a very common thing in our community with a lot of new people that have moved here. And so, being weather aware, still staying up with what's going on. One: knowing that there's a hurricane coming. But then, if you didn't prepare — there is still time. Don't panic. But you do need to get food and water; we're saying right now for at least three days because we've got to let the grocery stores restock. Fill up your tank; make sure that you've got some gas in your tank. It may be difficult to get gas after landfall, and then secure any objects that are outside that could be blown away by the wind that can end up causing all kinds of damage. The other is that with the executive order from the governor, you can get a 30-day supply of medication right now because that was signed yesterday.
Averhart: And weather preparedness, storm preparedness is particularly important for people who live along the coast.
Tompkins: Absolutely. So if and when we call for an evacuation, take that very seriously. We do not call for an evacuation for just any reason. We call for evacuations because of storm surge. Storm surge is the number one killer in a storm like this. And so, we always say run from the water, hide from the wind.
Averhart: Any last word at this point?
Tompkins: Again, just pay attention to respectable media. There are so many rumors and just false information that goes across social media; you know, rely on reliable news sources. We have our emergency management social media pages. We keep those up to date on a constant basis, especially during a storm. And that can really help you navigate what you need to do next.
