Transcript: McMaster State of Emergency (English, Spanish, Ukraine)

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Compiled by Brian Scott Luke, Speeddog Omnimedia:

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Y'all see that copy? Yeah. Alright. Alright, we ready? Some of us got notes to look at. Well, welcome. Oh, everyone here, we at the emergency management division and we've been here before and I'm sure we'll be here again. Uh, we don't know when hurricanes other storms, tornadoes are coming. Some of us can remember the days that we had none of these sophisticated instruments to help us predict these things, but they help a lot, but they're still not a hundred percent accurate.

But we'll tell you what we know and what we predict, and we are ready for this as we've ever been. Chaplain Denny. Thank you, governor. Good afternoon. I'm Chaplain Denny with the South Carolina National Guard. If you would, I invite you to pray with me. Gracious Lord, my faith tradition says in Ecclesiastes, there's a time for everything under the heavens.

A time to plant and a time to uproot, A time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to keep, and a time to throw away. A time to tear, and a time to mend. We can infer from these words, Lord, that you give us the ability to choose how we respond to life situations. With the uncertainty of this storm's path, it is a time to prepare.

Keep us from complacency and help us remain vigilant as we pray for the best and prepare for the worst. I pray all this in your mighty and precious name, Lord. Amen. Amen. Thank you. He's exactly right. Pray and hope for the best and prepare for the worst, and the time to prepare is now. And. Not when the wind's blowing and the rain is falling down and things are getting shoved around.

Uh, we remember Helene as one year ago today, and we remember that it was, did not go exactly where it was expected to go, and it produced results and damages it, uh, many people had not seen before. Particularly in the up part of this, this state. And all along the, uh, the, the west side, we had pecan trees.

Groves knocked flat. I'd never seen that before. I suppose most people have not. But also at downtown Greenville, they had big oaks going down, taking down all the electrical wiring, and we couldn't get in there to clean it up because of that electrical wiring tangled up with all those limbs of those trees.

It was really something we hadn't seen. But the people in North Carolina, particularly around Asheville, hadn't seen anything like that either. So you never know how bad it's gonna be. This one does not look as strong as it looked yesterday. That could change tonight. Tomorrow, it could be much stronger, could change direction because with these, the most sophisticated instruments, we cannot prepare.

For, for exactly what is going to happen. So we have to prepare for it all. And in all that uncertainty, the only thing that is certain for sure is that your South Carolina team representatives of most of whom you, you see here before you already, we've been through it before, we know how to do it. Uh, I issued the, uh, declaration yesterday, emergency declaration to allow us, we've already begun putting people in equipment, uh, in place, helicopters, aerial ask, um, uh, resources, people on the highways.

Uh, the counties are ready. The counties have informed us that they do not believe that we need an evacuation order, a mandatory order, and we agree with that. And so we have no intention of. Issuing such, such an order, but don't be misled. That does not mean that you might have big waves. We know that we are going to have high winds.

We know that we're going to have a lot of water. We know that we're gonna have flooding and in parts of the state, maybe some parts that we haven't seen before. But the good news is that the storm probably will stay out in the ocean. But still a lot of rain, strong winds and serious flooding is going to happen, and it could happen way up in the Midlands.

We don't know where it's going to go. You remember in 2017 with Florence, we had a storm came in that parked over part of the state and North Carolina and we, we had water coming down we'd not not seen before, and Helene again went to a part of the state that had not seen a hurricane before that could happen again.

We don't think it will, but we hope it does. Not. That executive order that I asked you yesterday, cut the red tape, what does that do? That allows all of our equipment, all of our agencies, all of our, uh, services to go on and start getting ready ahead of time. Uh, we are expecting, uh, the federal government to cooperate with us a hundred percent and.

Again, we do not think that we will have, uh, any mandatory, we're not counting on that at all. But I'll leave you with this before we start hearing from Team South Carolina, and that is your neighborhood may have things that you have not seen before, so go ahead and be prepared. Put your important papers, the way you can reach 'em, your, your pills, your medicines, all of those kind of things.

Get prepared for what might happen to your animals. Call you if you're going to move someplace else, not to be where you usually are. Tell tell your friends, family where you going be in case someone needs to get in touch with you and whatever you do, we know we're gonna have a lot of rain. Don't drive through standing water.

E, even if the winds are not strong, that water may is always gonna be deeper than you think. And we lose a lot of people to drown in, uh, don't drown. Turn around, don't go through that water. It is pitiful the deaths that we have had in this state from people who mistakenly. Unnecessarily without caution.

Drive through standing water they think is only a few inches or maybe a foot deep. Turns out it's deeper than that. Turns out the motor comp's out. Then the here comes a flash flood, and you have someone may be on the phone in their vehicle calling for help. None can come and they drown right there in the vehicle.

We've seen that right here in our state. So be careful, be prepared, and the time to prepare is now. And first part of our team will be John Ello and I failed to Indu to introduce Holly Mae. Holly, glad to see you again and your assistant, Larissa Martin. Glad to have you here as well. Thank you, John. Thank you, governor.

As you mentioned, today is the anniversary of Hurricane Helene and all of us in the National Weather Service. Continue to think about all the people that, uh, have suffered some loss from from the storm a year ago today. Um, here to say this is gonna be a different storm, uh, different impacts in different areas, but we still need to be prepared, like the governor was mentioning, uh, currently tropical depression nine continues to become better organized and is likely to become tropical storm, uh, in, uh, MELDE later today or tonight as it lifts North Northwest across the southwestern Bahamas.

The latest National Hurricane Center forecast calls for our eel strengthening into a hurricane as it passes between the North and Bahamas and the southeastern US coast Monday night and Tuesday. The forecast becomes complex as a system near South Carolina on Tuesday, um, due to its slower movement, which currently tropical depression.

Nine will become more influenced by Hurricane Umberto, a stronger system to the east. The interaction is expected to cause the system to slow down or even briefly stall off the South Carolina coast. How close it gets is still to be determined, and that's gonna determine the impact certainly. But, um, we do expect it to, to slow or stall near the South Carolina coast and then turn east into the Atlantic away from the United States.

While less likely there is still a concern for a South Carolina landfall with some model support. For this scenario, so we're still monitoring that potential. We need people to, to remain vigilant. Impacts from the wind will be highly track dependent, so residents and visitors along the coast should prepare for tropical storm force winds and even the possibility of hurricane force winds if the system were to track closer to the coast or move inland.

Rainfalls expected to be one of the more significant impacts from the system, scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms associated with a stalled front. Could produce locally heavy rainfall through the weekend. Heavy rain bands associated with tropical depression. Nine could then impact the state Monday through Tuesday night and potentially later into the week if the storm slows down.

Latest rainfall forecast shows six to 12 inches of rain across the eastern part of the state through the week. With locally higher amounts possible leading to a significant inland flood threat. We are more confident that storm will produce impacts along the coast, including significant beach erosion, high surf, and dangerous rip currents.

Storm surge flooding is also a concern, especially for vulnerable, low lying coastal locations, even if landfall does not occur. Uh, we ask that you please continue to monitor the latest forecast from the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane center@weather.gov. Thank you. Thank you. John Ello, director Kim Stinson Emergency Management Division.

Yes, Kim Stinson, uh, EMD. Um. As this storm approaches South Carolina with probable, uh, flood surge and wind, wind impacts, it's not just a coastal event, it's a full state of South Carolina event. 'cause we can have wind and uh, and rain throughout the state, uh, based on the, uh, the impact of the storm. And we've got many areas that are vulnerable to flooding, uh, from our coastal communities back to the inland rivers.

Uh, certainly, uh, can bring some heavy rainfall that overwhelms our drainage systems and leading to flash floods, especially in the urban areas, uh, which can happen with little or no warning. So if you live in a flood prune area, uh, or a low lying area, identify higher ground now that you might be able to, to seek, uh, that safety if, if it's needed.

And just a reminder that flooding is the number one cause of fatality. In, uh, tropical storms, uh, and as the governor said, just a little bit of rain, uh, water on the ground can, uh, knock somebody over or also, uh, a couple of feet can move a car. And that's happened before. Um, so obviously never driving through those flooded roads.

Uh, don't wait until it's too late. If your local authorities, uh, encourage you to evacuate selected areas, then you should do that. Uh, and there'll be shelters that are opened up for people to go to if they wanna seek those shelters. But it's very important to follow the instructions of your, uh, local officials.

Extremely important. Um, certainly it's important for all of us to have an emergency plan, uh, in place for whatever disaster situation it might impact. Uh, and this situation is no different. Uh, we all need to be our own emergency managers. So residents should review, uh, their safety plans and consider actions taken in advance of the, of the, uh, of the storm.

And the governor's already talked about some of these, but certainly, uh, having enough bottled water and non-perishable food to sustain the family, uh, for at least three days. Uh, having the weather radio and the flashlight, extra batteries and chargers, and knowing where your important documents are, as the governor said, such as your birth certificates and insurance policies.

In the event that you have to evacuate your home. Uh, and then we've already talked about staying tuned to the, the local media. Get the latest advisories from the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, and again, following those trusted verified sources for the latest news and be prepared to follow those instructions.

So to help with the planning, uh, we've got a couple of tools, uh, that, that we can, uh. Uh, lets you access obviously, uh, for individuals, families, and, uh, businesses and our South Carolina Emergency Manager app. Uh, it's downloadable through Google and Apple, and it's even got a component in there to create your own personal plan.

Keep track of your supplies, medications, and important numbers. So, and we also have our website@scemd.org, which has also a wealth of information, uh, to get you prepared. Uh, from an operational perspective here, we're taking several actions. The State Emergency Operations Center has been activated and is, uh, operational to coordinate the state response to this event.

Uh, we started conducting county coordination calls earlier this week to identify any issues or unmet needs. Uh, our logistics system has been activated to assist local authorities, and that system has been validated extensively over the last several years. And the numerous events that we've had, uh, we currently have requests, uh, in right now ranging from sandbags to swift water rescue teams.

And those are being actioned. And as, uh, the governor said as a final note, team, South Carolina has a lot of, a lot of experience in the last, uh, well, 11 years, I guess, uh, at least preparing, uh, for responding to and recovering for, uh. Uh, hurricanes and tropical storms. So that experience, uh, remains our greatest strength in, uh, moving forward.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Stinson. Major General. Jeff Jones, national Guard. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, major General, Jeff Jones, state DA Deputy Adant General. The men and women of the South Carolina Army National Guard, air National Guard, and the State Guard are prepared and currently positioning to support any request.

From any agency statewide, our liaisons, uh, have made contact with and are reporting to requested emergency operation centers there. Uh, they will communicate and collaborate with any agency that is requesting support from us. We are mobilizing 150 Guardsmen. Who will man? 30 high water vehicles and perform general purpose support.

Uh, they will be on station tomorrow morning, uh, ready to, ready to perform their missions. In addition, we have 81 high water vehicles in reserve should they be requested, other capabilities that we have our on standby if needed in include aviation support. Uh, law enforcement support, uh, any general purpose, support and logistical support.

The South Carolina State Guard under the command of Major General Leon. Lot stand ready to respond, uh, particularly with, uh, debris clearing engineering support if they needed, and also general purpose support. Uh, to date, we have received seven missions, uh, assignments from supporting agencies. Uh, we are ready to meet those missions and any more, uh, that come our way.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Secretary Justin Powell, department of Transportation. Thank you, governor. The South Carolina Department of Transportation is actively preparing for the impacts from tropical depression non. For the past two days, crews in our coastal counties have been preparing equipment and have been addressing known drainage hotspots.

We've also been pre-positioning equipment in locations that we historically know we have challenges with during tropical weather. Those activities are continuing today in anticipation of storm conditions. Early next week, we ask the public to slow down, move over, and make space for row crews. That'll be out in the coming days ahead of the storm.

We are ready to go to 24 hour operations as the storm arrives early next week. We're also preparing to deploy assistance, 10 assistance crews from the upstate and Midlands to the coast on money to bolster our personnel there. S-C-D-O-T stands ready to respond and encourages the public to be ready to respond as well.

Please rely on official information, information sources like our 5 1 1 SC app that you can get realtime traffic information and can be downloaded on the Apple and Google stores. Thank you, governor. Thanks, secretary Powell State Fire Marshall, Jonathan Jones. Thank you Governor, LLR State Fire Division continues to staff the emergency support function four and nine, supporting resource requests with search and rescue teams, including Swift Water and floodwater rescue teams.

Our Palmetto incident support team, which provides command and control and coordination. Uh, for search and rescue statewide, uh, was activated effective noon today. Um, and, uh, we'll continue to coordinate search and rescue and, uh, mission resource request throughout this incident. Uh, we've already been working with, uh, FEMA who will be sending to Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces.

Water rescue capabilities to stage here in Columbia on federal operation support status, uh, beginning tomorrow. In addition, FEMA is sending their search and rescue incident support team to co-locate with ours, um, here in Columbia to help, uh, bolster command and control and, uh, resource coordination. Uh, should we utilize.

Any federal resources. The six, uh, urban search and rescue teams that make up the emergency response task force system here in South Carolina, as well as South Carolina's Helicopter Aquatic Rescue team have been rostered and stand ready to respond. Three of those teams will be located in their local jurisdictions in Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head, Bluffton area for local response.

The remaining teams. Including South Carolina Task Force One and our South Carolina Helicopter Aquatic Rescue team, which is a partner with the National Guard Aviation, are available to respond to resource requests and missions throughout the state. I do wanna offer a couple safety tips if we do lose power.

Um, although one of the leading causes, uh, to deaths in a tropical system certainly is flood waters. Uh, post power outage, uh, it often is carbon monoxide poisoning and related to generator safety. So I encourage you to never run a generator inside your home if you're using a portable generator. Have battery operated or backup.

Carbon monoxide alarms in your home. Don't overload a generator and before refueling, make sure you shut the generator down and allow it to cool. Keep a generator at least 20 feet from doors, windows, and eaves where those fumes can make their way into the home. And never use a generator in attached garage.

You already heard it mentioned about flood water safety when it comes to flash flooding a citizen's. First line of defense is awareness and avoiding flood waters, if at all possible. It's difficult to judge the depth and the speed of flood waters, and you can easily be swept away in what may seem like shallow water.

Also, assume that all flood waters contaminated, contaminated. You don't know what it is. You don't know about wildlife, reptiles, um, and vectors and ants, and all those kinds of things that can be swept up in flood water. So the best thing to do is avoid it altogether. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Jones, director Robert Woods, department of Public Safety.

Thank you, governor Rob Woods, South Carolina Department of Public Safety DPS is prepared to begin response operations on Monday at 6:00 AM with 150 law enforcement personnel from the Highway Patrol, state Transport Police Sled, S-E-D-N-R, and SE Triple P assigned to the coast where of South Carolina.

Our operational priorities are focused on addressing increased calls for service, which we typically see in these storms, such as more traffic collisions, disabled motorists, uh, down trees, blocked roadways, and so forth. We'll operate on a 24 hour basis beginning on Monday through the course of the event, as is already been mentioned, but can't be emphasized enough.

To the public, please be reminded to avoid travel during hazardous weather, and particularly to avoid roadways that are blocked by down trees, down power lines, or that are flooded. Thank you, governor. Thanks sir. Robert Woods, mayor Reese Department of Environmental Service. Thank you, governor. Good afternoon.

Myra Reese, director of uh, department of Environmental Services. The Department of Environmental Services is continuing to work very closely with the Governor's office and all of our fellow state agencies as South Carolina prepares for potential severe weather and heavy rainfall. We also are continuing to maintain great coordination and communication with our local emergency managers and officials who are doing an excellent job in preparing and also keeping their communities informed.

Please make sure you'll hear many of us keep reminding, um, everyone to please make sure you continue to follow the recommendations of your local officials and, and stay informed with the weather. I, I heard someone yesterday say. Instead of being weather worried, I'm gonna be weather aware. And I, I think that just really signifies, um, just the, the importance of staying informed in, in listening to your local officials when there's a threat of heavy rainfall and severe weather.

One of the first things that the Department of Environmental Services prioritize. Is a focus on our state regulated dams. Yesterday, our staff proactively used, um, our emergency notification system. It's called Ready op, to alert owners of regulated dams in the areas of the state that could receive the heaviest of rainfall, advising them that they take proactive.

To prepare their dam dams and minimize any impacts steps, like clearing debris from the spillways, assessing the water levels to determine if lowering the level, um, is needed to minimize those storm impacts and accommodate the incoming storm flows. Additionally, our dam safety staff have been in the field, um, for several days and are out there today, will continue through the weekend, and we'll be assessing additional dams in areas that may be most impacted based on any shift in the.

Current forecast data. I do wanna point out that on our website, we provide an interactive map of every state regulated dam in the state at des.se.gov/dams. Um, and feel free to, to look at that interactive map. I think it's important also to point out that our dam safety team prepare for severe, severe weather impacts way before hurricane season even begins.

Back in May, we began a pre seasonal bootcamp of our state's regulated dams to have a current awareness of dam conditions throughout the state. Having communications with our dam owners, this keeps us informed and prepares us for when severe severe weather that does threaten our state so that we can help dam dam owners take any necessary proactive measures in preparing for any potential storm impacts along the coast.

Our Bureau of Coastal Management has prepared data for structures within our beachfront jurisdiction in case we need to deploy staff to perform post-storm damage assessments. And our coastal program has also prepared templates for issuing emergency orders and emergency general permits if it's needed, that would allow, um, for sandbagging and marine debris removal if South Carolina is.

Uh, heavily impacted by these storms. We're prepared to perform many other critical activities, including the post-storm dam assessments, deploying mobile teams to severely impacted areas of the state, um, conducting post-storm aerial coastal assessments, um, and assisting with storm debris management. Um, you can find all of this information on our website at des.sc.gov/storms.

Thank you. Thank you, judge. Re, chief. I'm Sled Mark Keel. Mark Keel, chief of Sled, uh, ESF 13. Sled, DNR Triple P will be assisting our partners at EF six, ESF 16, uh, DPS in working traffic control points, uh, and line patrols beginning Monday. As Direct Woods has stated, we will have additional 15 personnel both day and night shift.

Working in the low country region, Charleston and also in the southern region. We'll have additional 20 people working in that region as well. All of e SF thirteens aircraft are available. And upon request we have four uh, rotorcraft helicopters and we have two fixed wing that belong to DNR. In addition, our sled, regional captains and myself will be in constant contact with all of our sheriffs and chiefs in these areas that are impacted.

To make sure that their communities have the necessary law enforcement personnel, they may need to keep their communities safe. Thank you. Good. Thanks Chief. Anyone have a question? Uh, governor is DSS opening up any shelters? I couldn't hear you. Is DSS opening up any shelters? There's answer that. The answer is no, sir, not right now.

And of course, the decision to open up shelters is made at the local level by county emergency management. At this time, uh, none of our coastal counties have made the decision to open those shelters, but they are on standby. And answer your quick Yeah, no other question. When should we start expecting the rain to hit South Carolina?

June. Well, there will already be some, uh, scattered numerous storms around throughout the weekend, and they're dumping some locally heavy rain already. We saw some of that overnight and, and earlier today. Uh, but the, the main, uh, rain bands associated with the tropical system should arrive on Monday and continue probably through, uh, most of Tuesday, Tuesday night.

And if it's slow enough moving, then that heavy rainfall that would be extended later into the week as well. So the brunt of the impacts from the storm. Expected, most likely late Monday night, Tuesday into Tuesday night, we expect the worst conditions. More questions. Governor, do we have any National Guard troops that are outta state that you need to recall back to the state to respondents?

No, sir. All of all of that, I, I'll let the general answer, the answer to that is no. We in good shape General? Yes, sir. We, we are, we the governor is correct. We have none. However, uh, we have established communication with the states that we do emergency compact support and we are prepared and they are prepared, uh, to do that support if needed.

But at this time, as the governor said, we have none from outta state. Are our troops outta state? Did they have to come back for any need to respond to this? Uh, n no sir. No sir. Our units who are in Washington, DC have returned home. Other units who are on mission on the southwest border will continue on mission.

We have plenty of assets here to support any, uh, anything that this storm, uh, will bring to us. More questions. Governor, you mentioned this is weak as the one year of Helene. Is there anything different that the state is doing in preparedness for the storm that you guys might have not done last year that can be different potentially to be more beneficial?

I, I, we find new wrinkles every year. One of course was, it was, um, demonstrated with Helene is that once again, it's totally unpredictable what's gonna happen sometimes. These storms will, will take a right angle turn just about overnight. That one, Helene, of course, was, uh, predicted to go roughly where it went, but it went to the more, to the east, uh, 50 or a hundred miles closer, uh, farther away from Atlanta.

It was supposed to go right through Atlanta and it certainly didn't, and that that was. That was a new experience for, for a lot of people. It had a, a lot of, uh, damage that we'd not seen before. Particularly those, all those pecan trees and the down trees. I know Greenville, other places had it as well, but I mean, trees, big oak trees downtown, all, all on the ground.

We don't usually see that. And Hugo, we had a lot of trees go down. It that hurt, that one went all the way. Came through Charleston, came through Columbia, and went up to Charlotte and took down a hundred year old trees in downtown Charlotte. So what we learn every time was reinforced is that you never know where they're going to go.

They don't tell us where they're gonna go, and we can't predict anyone want to comment again on that further, I would just say that we really didn't identify what we would call systemic failures of the system. Uh, but there's always, as the governor says, there's always areas that we can do better. Um, you know, sometimes in terms of sheltering and feeding.

And then one lesson learned last year, and maybe, uh, director Bates wants to talk about it, but, uh, I'll mention it, is that, uh, we found that we needed closer coordination between local authorities and the utilities. And the, as the governor mentioned, they had, uh, entangled debris and the electric lines and wanted to make sure those lines were not live.

And so that's actually taking place right now. There's some better coordination with that. Yep. Comment. Thank you, director. Stinson, one thing the governor says frequently is communication, collaboration, cooperation. So I don't know that that's necessarily new, but out of Helene, we really established some really strong communication, collaboration, and cooperation channels.

And in fact, for the past week and a half, I've been talking with utility partners and, and they're well prepared for the storm. Real question. Director Bates can stay up there. Um, what, um, what kind of electric utilities are prepositioning and where right now? Sure. Um, right now Dominion and Sant Cooper have assets they're working to preposition.

Um, I'm aware of just north of Beaufort and North of Charleston as Director Bateman Joe, sorry. Yeah. Okay. More questions. Any anticipation for the schools? Uh, how are they gonna operate? Is there gonna be a local decision? It typically is a local decision, yes, because we don't, we don't know where this is going to go.

Any more questions? Just one reminder. This, this storm is deadly serious. Not just serious, but deadly serious. We lost 35 in Hugo. We lost 49 in Helene. And we've lost some in others, but it, it's deadly serious. And particularly with that water, you got to be careful that water, water, during the hurricane, during the storm water is not your friend.

So you gotta be very careful. Thank you very much. We'll keep you updated.