RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) – The Wake County Department of Emergency Management plans to activate its operations center Thursday morning to prepare for response to Tropical Storm Debby.
“We would like to activate our EOC to what we call level four. That is currently our lowest activation level according to the current forecast, but we are prepared to increase it to level three or higher if we respond or need more coordination,” said Darshan Patel, Wake County Emergency Management director of operations.
The district opened the facility last fall and cited population growth and storms as the main reasons for the investment.
Patel pointed to the technological improvements taking place in downtown Raleigh.
“In the past, a lot of this was done manually. In some cases, we would look at paper maps or say, ‘Hey, I know this area. Can we get this person to come out and look at it?’ Now we can try to at least look at it superficially on a map and then bring in the right partners to fill in some of those information gaps,” Patel said.
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The integrated map allows staff to see everything from NCDOT cameras to power outages to dam locations.
“We can continue to get real-time feeds from our partners. We can see the status of our emergency departments, so if they see an influx of people or they have capacity issues and the emergency departments close, that will show up on the map for us as red, yellow or green as well,” Patel shared.
This additional information allows staff to direct emergency responders where they are needed, saving valuable time in emergency situations. As for direct notifications, Patel encouraged residents to sign up for ReadyWake Alerts.
“If there is flooding in your area, not only can we use the Federal Wireless Emergency Alert System, but we can also contact you by phone, text message or email, whichever you prefer, if you have signed up for it,” Patel said.
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