Gov. Josh Stein in Alamance County talking storm damage, funding needed at state level
And as we all know the consequences of Chantal tropical
depression Chantal were devastating as it was homes destroyed uh
businesses impaired and worst of all lives lost
Uh we know of a handful of reported deaths to
date
Uh we're working with the Department of Health and Human
Services to come up with a final number and when
We have those numbers we'll of course share them with
you
Uh I'm here with Secretary of Transportation Joey Hopkins and
emergency Management director Will Ray uh Colonel Johnson with the
Highway Patrol is right here uh and
Storms like this show us what is best about North
Carolina
We had these guys the troopers we were here with
Sheriff Blackwood Sheriff Johnson from Orange and Alamance County Sheriff
Roberson and Chatham
These guys and their deputies were working overnight knocking on
doors getting people out of their homes diverting traffic to
keep people from falling into harms
And it's what shows what reveals the truth of North
Carolina which is when people need help the people of
North Carolina will be there for their neighbors
We've got a lot of work to do
We're in the assessment phase of the scale of the
damage
That's something that Director Ray will be working on
There's more weather to come
There's rain coming later this week
This ground is fully saturated
We hope and pray it's not a heavy storm but
folks need to be on their toes
If you have not signed up for your county's emergency
alert system I urge you to do that
Go to your county
Emergency website sign up so that if a storm comes
your way you will get alerted and can take action
to protect your loved ones
The heartbreak that families across the Piedmont are experiencing this
week
I know one of
The victim's sons very well and their pain is pain
that we would wish on no one
So let's all do everything we can to take care
over the next few days to make sure that no
one else in North Carolina experiences a loss of life
to the storm
Thank you for being here
Happy to take some questions
Um one second
So there's a lot of y'all and you know we
want to get us out of the sun as fast
as possible
I do apologize we're out here
Um so if folks can stick to one question if
possible and if you can give your name and outlet
if possible
question for anyone
Laura Leslie are you are you going to declare a
state of emergency or is this a county state of
emergency and what is the difference in terms of funding
and resources I'll let Director A augment my answer but
this was not a statewide event
It was a local event
A number of the counties impacted declared a state of
emergency
They had the resources locally to handle it
There is an emergency response system where when they need
more help they can request it and there were 8
different units that came from different parts of the state
from Lewisville from Stokes County from other parts of North
to help out their neighbors in need
So there was no need for us to declare a
state emergency but I'll let Director A supplement that answer
Thank you Governor
I think Laura as you know and as the governor
said the framework here in North Carolina is scalable to
meet whatever the need is
And so as we looked at what the potential impact
area was going to be it was isolated to the
345 counties as the governor said 4 of them did
declare states of emergency to allow them locally to implement
some of their authorities that are needed at a state
level
Our role is how do we support those local communities
in meeting
Needs whether it's something like you just heard about is
it pumps is it water is it setting up shelters
is it moving in search and rescue teams and so
as the governor said we moved 8 teams that are
a part of the statewide search and rescue program in
to support those impacted communities with their very specific search
and rescue needs
Our recovery team is moving in today for those communities
that are ready to talk about damage assessment again as
you know
We have some state declaration programs that we can turn
on that are based on damage assessments locally and so
those are things that we're going to assess right now
as far as what's available for local units of government
what public infrastructure
I think as you heard Secretary Hopkins say earlier that
this is going to be an expensive event also for
DOT
So as we look at available support I think our
commitment is we're going to work with those local communities
as fast as
Can to do those assessments to determine what at least
at a state level what resources we can turn on
to support some of the devastation that folks have really
have experienced over the last couple of days
Governor from the insider can you talk a little bit
about I mean seeing this under construction what's considered sort
of the boring part of government which is infrastructure and
the upkeep and all that particularly with Texas in mind
I mean to what degree I mean recovery is big
But what is responsible for Well I I want to
compliment Town of Men because they built this we've learned
that this lake is normally 10 ft lower than it
is today
They when they were rebuilding this spillway or building a
new spillway to enhance its safety they decided to put
in an interim dam far in excess of what anybody
would reasonably consider necessary
But thank goodness they did so we all collectively owe
our words of appreciation to the engineers and the contractors
for the town of Meet
Similarly in Asheville they're big drinking water reservoir just a
couple years before Hurricane Helene said hit they put in
a new spillway
Had that spillway not been installed and it was a
decision made by a couple county
with local government folks back about 15-20 years ago had
they not done that and that damn breached the deaths
would have been catastrophic thousands of people in this state
would have died
Thank God that's not the story
The story is government came together and took reasonable precautions
to keep people safe
That means we need government that costs a little bit
of money
Nobody likes
To pay taxes but it's times like this when we
say thank goodness we have a well functioning government
Governor Dena Harley with CBS 17 News obviously we're out
here today but yesterday morning people were still being evacuated
from their homes
There were still water rescues and there was a lot
of questions about what your office was doing in the
immediacy
Walk us through what yesterday looked like for you personally
and your office
Well in regular contact with emergency management
These storms the immediate response is always local
It's the local sheriff it's the local police it's their
emergency management crews and they are in regular communication practically
hourly communication with our folks in emergency management so that
they're telling us what do you need Well the water
pump is out
We don't have fresh water
OK we're going to come and a water distribution system
in Hillsborough
We have a lot of people who've been evacuated
OK we're going to help you put forward a temporary
shelter
We've got people who are still stranded in their homes
OK we're going to bring in water rescue crews from
around the state
If it were a massive storm Will would've been on
the phone with his counterparts in neighboring states saying can
you send in resources to help us That was not
necessary in the storm
We were able to handle it all with North Carolina
resources but it was more than this region could handle
on its own
That's how the system works and thank goodness it worked
well
you know between Ole and out this storm what is
your administration doing to make sure that you're funding local
emergency management services and the infrastructure for smaller towns too
along some of these rivers
Well I'm concerned that the General Assembly has not yet
passed a budget
We're working off of the last year's budget
We need a new budget
That we will make sure that our state emergency management
is well funded
There are real funding concerns with the federal government
A lot of our emergency management personnel is paid for
from federal funding
We've been working hard to secure that funding so we
don't experience widespread layoffs
Real concerned about the federal government stepping away from some
of the resilience investment that we need to make as
a state
We know these storms are coming
They're coming with greater frequency and intensity
So what we have to do is make sure that
infrastructure like this contemplates that kind of weather event so
that this dam does not breach so that it does
not
Swallow up communities across Alamance Orange County so we have
a lot of investments to do
We're in regular contact with our federal partners with the
General Assembly to try to make sure we have the
resources we need to keep people safe
I have a question over here
ABC 45 News Bailey um you know just being out
here yesterday speaking to the residents of a lot of
them came and visited here to see for themselves because
you know a lot of rumors
Circulating that the dam broke and did not can you
just give a message to people of the triad and
just in the state I think people are very apprehensive
following last year assured that their government
Well the government certainly has the back of the people
of North Carolina
We also have to have people have the back of
each other and of course starts with each of us
having our own back
That means listening listen to your local weather forecast listen
to your local emergency management warnings
People have got to stay tuned if you have not
subscribed to your county's
alert system I urge you to do so so that
if something comes that is unexpected and unfortunately these storms
are coming with an intensity that we are not expected
then you will get that alert and can take action
We're going to do everything in our power to keep
people safe
We have a lot more weather coming this week
The ground is heavily saturated
Stay tuned
Listen to your local weather make sure that you keep
yourself out of harm's way and we will do everything
we can to help you
I have a question here
Yes Erin Burnett
So talk to us a little bit about that decision
making of why a state of emergency wasn't declared what
you guys are who you are working with the National
Weather Service what that prediction looks like
I'll hand that off to Will about the weather system
but in terms of a statewide emergency this was a
localized event and 4 of the 5 affected counties declared
their own emergencies which gave them the authority they needed
to respond accordingly
We stand at the ready to help any local government
that is
In need and Will was in repeated conversation with his
counterparts at the local level to make sure we were
getting them the swift water rescue teams
We were getting them the water we were getting them
the emergency shelters whatever it is that they needed we
were on to deliver but we'll let you talk about
the weather
Thank you sir
So as you've heard us talk about the when when
I say the state emergency response team that's not just
the state of OC in Raleigh that's not just something
we stand up you know every now and again
I think that's the steady state partnership that we talk
about local state tribal federal private sector and nonprofits and
and and our volunteer agencies and again I think we
stand here today and we see a public private partnership
The public works staff your local government is very much
a part of effective preparedness and response as is our
private sector to make sure that we're protecting everyone
And so that team is as the governor said ready
to support our local communities with whatever they need
We have the authorities that we need based on the
scope and impact of the event to be able to
move the teams that our local community said we need
help with
We were able to do that
And we're able to work with our partners with the
National Weather Service with the Weather Prediction Center and other
forecasting agencies to get real-time real-time operational impact information of
where we're seeing flooding what the different levels of rainfall
are
They are very much a piece of what we're doing
not just
As we look at the forecasts so a couple of
days ahead of time but they are actually part of
the response as we're moving through making sure that we
have we at the state level as well as our
local communities have the best situational awareness that they need
to be able to make the right operational decision to
get those resources in where they need as quickly and
as safely
as they can
was at risk of critical failure and we just heard
town officials talk about how it wasn't designed to you
know handle this kind of rain
I know that you spoke about rain coming on Wednesday
What's being done in the interim how are you all
preparing for Wednesday storm Yeah well what they have pump
here and they're looking for more pumps to lower the
water level so that if there is an unexpected amount
of rain the lake can hold it
Um so and they're already working to repair the spillway
so that it holds in case of more rain
Obviously people need to stay attuned to what's going on
We think that we're in a situation where it can
be handled but please listen to your local weather listen
to your local emergency alerts to know whether you need
to take action
Thank you all so much for being here