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From YouTube: Hurricane Irene Emergency Press Conference
Description
Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz held a press conference with emergency personnel to discuss Baltimore County's emergency preparation for Hurricane Irene.
A
Good
afternoon
we
are
located
here
today
in
Baltimore,
County's,
emergency
command
center
and
I'd
like
to
introduce
people
who
are
going
to
also
speak
today.
I
have
before
that
I
do
want
to
recognize,
delegate
Adrienne
Jones
this
year,
Councilwoman
vicki
almond
and
Councilwoman
Kathy
Bevins.
We
also
are
going
to
hear
from
assistant
Chief
Mark
Hubbard
who's,
the
director
of
Emergency
Management
Fire,
Chief,
John,
Holman,
Police,
Chief,
Jim,
Johnson,
director,
Public,
Works
and
Adams,
and
were
also
joined
by
Rob
Gould
vice
president
of
DGE.
A
Obviously
we
don't
know
the
extent
of
the
storm
at
this
stage.
It's
only
predictions.
Our
game
plan
is
to
prepare
for
the
worst
and
hope
for
the
best.
I
do
want
to
advise
all
citizens
that
they
have
the
opportunity
to
get
updates
of
on
Twitter
at
Baltimore,
I'm,
sorry,
Bay,
Kobe,
a
co
emergency
as
well
as,
of
course
on
our
website,
baltimore
county
md.gov
and,
of
course,
in
the
event
of
any
type
of
emergency
residents,
are
requested
to
dial
nine-one-one
all
right.
Let
me
start
with
a
system
chief
mark
Hubbard,
director
of
emergency
management.
B
Good
afternoon,
right
now,
our
plans
are
to
activate
the
Baltimore
County
Emergency
Operations
Center
12:00
noon
on
Saturday
and
will
stay
open
throughout
the
duration
of
the
storm.
In
the
recovery
phase,
we
are
opening
a
shelter
at
the
Eastern
Technical
High
School
in
mace
Avenue
in
Essex.
That
will
be
available
at
12:00
noon
on
Saturday
for
people
that
feel
that
they
need
to
leave
their
home
and
seek
safety.
We
do
encourage
people,
though,
that
feel
the
need
to
leave
to
seek
shelter.
B
First
with
family
and
friends,
it's
a
much
more
comfortable
situation
and
wait
out
the
storm
right
now.
We
are
closely
monitoring
the
weather
conditions.
They
change
every
six
hours
or
having
twice
daily
briefings
with
the
mail
and
Emergency
Management
Agency
to
coordinate
regional
efforts
and
going
through
our
pre-event
checklist
and
the
Emergency
Operations
plan
to
be
sure
that
we're
ready
to
respond
to
whatever
conditions
we
see
develop.
C
Afternoon
we're
asking
all
motorists
not
to
operate
motor
vehicles
during
the
storm
event.
If
you
absolutely
must
operate
a
vehicle
do
not
drive
through
standing
water.
We
have
numerous
problems.
Last
time
this
occurred.
Vehicles
will
stall,
creates
a
whole
new
host
of
problems,
but
as
the
storm
subsides,
please
use
great
caution.
Operating
vehicles
along
the
roadways,
many
lights
may
be
out
sure
you,
our
officers,
are
deployed
trying
to
handle
traffic
at
that
time
and
all
efforts
are
being
made
to
bring
the
lights
back
up
again,
but
use
great
caution.
C
A
You
chief-
and
that
just
reminds
me
to
let
everyone
know
those
individuals
who
have
generators,
we
want
to
make
sure
that
they
are
only
operated
outdoors
not
indoors.
Obviously,
in
a
well-ventilated
area,
kind
of
the
basic
facts
of
making
sure
you've
charged
up
your
cell
phones
make
sure
you
have
adequate
batteries,
those
on
one
well
water.
As
IMU.
You
fill
your
bathtubs
up
as
many
as
you
have
to
have
that
extra
water
and
we're
also
asking
citizens
today
to
help
clean
out
storm
drains.
D
Good
afternoon,
as
Kevin
just
stated,
we
are
have
been
out
looking
at
all
our
storm
drains,
specifically
our
culverts
and
our
larger
culverts,
making
sure
there's
no
blockages
anywhere
near
there.
Basically,
that
includes
all
the
engineers
in
our
highway
staff,
our
utility
staff
has
been
taking
care
of
almost
117
pumping
stations
and
double-checking
our
generators.
We
have
over
80
generators
out
there
to
run
our
pumping
stations
in
case
we
lose
power
and
our
utility
staff
is
also
on
call
in
case.
The
fire
department
needs
us
to
help
pump
out
basements.
D
If
you
happen
to
see
down
trees
again,
our
highway
crews
will
be
called
out.
We
will
take
care
of
the
downed
trees
as
quick
as
we
can.
All
the
chainsaws
have
been
ready.
All
the
trucks
are
full
fuel.
We're
ready
to
go
in
regards
that,
but
please,
if
we're
not
taking
care
of
a
tree,
please
understand
it's
usually
because
there's
wires
in
it
and
we
have
to
wait
for
PG&E
to
come,
kill
the
power
we
take
the
tree
out
and
in
big
deal,
hopefully
restore
as
quick
as
we
can
possibly
get
to
it.
D
A
Also
want
to
mention
that
our
marine
units
are
also
ready
to
and
one-call
and
ready
to
assist
when
needed
in
that
regard.
I
also
want
to
let
you
know
that
the
Department
of
Public
Works
in
preparing
for
the
worst
will
be
available
after
the
storm,
if
needed,
for
dumpsters
and
other
opportunities
where
the
county
will
have
that
ability
to
help
individuals
if,
if
the
need
arises
after
the
storm.
E
So,
basically,
what
I
first
like
to
say
is
thank
you
for
the
great
partnership
with
Baltimore,
County
I
think
we're
in
a
good
place
as
far
as
we
can
be
at
this
point
in
preparing
for
what
we
expect
will
be
a
very
serious
storm,
we're
talking
about
upwards
of
500,000,
potentially
customer
outages.
If
you
compare
that
to
hurricane
or
at
the
time
when
it
hit
us
tropical
storm,
Isabel,
790
thousand
customers,
Hurricane
Floyd
back
in
99,
was
about
the
same
order
of
magnitude
that
we're
talking
about
for
this
storm.
E
We
have
over
a
thousand
out-of-state
external
linemen
tree
crews
and
another
support
staff.
That's
either
here
now
or
we
should
have
them
in
the
state,
certainly
by
tomorrow,
if
it
extends
into
Sunday,
but
certainly
the
850
that
we
had
this
morning.
We
have
here
as
of
today
and
tomorrow
we
just
secured
another
150
just
a
few
minutes
ago
from
some
southern
utilities.
Bottom
line
is
this:
this
is
a
very
serious
storm.
We
are
taking
this
very
seriously.
E
We've
got
about
3,700
employees
that
are
ready
to
go.
We
will
be
restoring
power
as
quickly
and
as
safely
as
we
can
we'll
support
an
order
of
restoration,
the
emergency
services
so
911
one
pumping
stations,
water
treatment
plants.
Those
types
are
the
first
to
be
restored.
Then
we
move
to
the
biggest
block
of
customers,
so
a
thousand
or
2,000
customers
on
big
theaters
as
they're
called,
and
then
we
move
to
the
individual
homes.
Customers
can
expect
to
be
out
of
service
for
several
days.
Make
no
mistake
about
it.
E
We
will
work
very
closely
with
the
county
and
all
other
jurisdictions
to
make
sure
that
we
are
restoring
power
as
quickly
and
as
safely
as
we
can.
We
do
not
distinguish
between
businesses
and
residences
or
residential
areas.
We
simply
want
to
get
out
there
and
restore
the
power
as
quickly
and
as
safely
as
possible,
Thank
You,
mr.
kay
music.
Let.
A
Me
just
also
thank
BGE
I
know
they
are
well
prepared
for
this.
They
have
a
station
set
up
at
Martin,
State
Airport,
as
well
as
a
regional
command
center
at
their
White
Marsh
training
facility.
So,
in
addition
to
BWI,
so
I
know
that
Baltimore
County
will
be
well
prepared
from
be
Jeannie's
perspective.
My
understanding
from
BGE
is
that
they
would
not
anticipate
as
much
flooding
has
occurred
with
Isabel,
but
there
is
going
to
be
a
significant
storm
and
wind
damage,
so
that's
obviously
the
event
to
focus
on,
particularly
on
the
east
side
of
the
county.
A
Please
take
the
opportunity
to
go
to
the
regional
shelter
that
we
are
setting
up
that
Eastern
Technical
High
School,
it's
an
advisory
only,
but
we
want
to
let
you
know
we
will
have
that
set
up
tomorrow,
starting
tomorrow
and
anyone
who
feels
they
have
that
need
if
they
have
been
prone
to
flooding
in
the
past.
It's
probably
a
good
idea
to
go
before
that
incident
might
occur.
I
I
think
that's
pretty
much
a
summary.
Obviously
we
have
a
chart
here
that
it's
explaining
the
basics
of
radio
flashlights
and
water
obviously
charge
your
you
know.
A
A
A
Obviously,
we
have
not
made
any
determination
that
there
is
a
need
for
mandatory
evacuation
at
this
point,
but
we
would
have
multiple
ways
of
communicating,
obviously,
the
the
internet,
but
we
will
also
have
public
service
requests
through
the
media,
TV
and
radio
and
we'll
attempt
to
disseminate
information
and
we'll
have
an
emergency.
Now.
Emergency
personnel
will
also
be
on
hand
to
get
the
word
out.
In
that
case,.
A
A
Obviously
we
learned
that
we
are
vulnerable
look.
This
has
been
a
tough
week.
We
learn
we're
vulnerable
to
earthquakes
and
hurricanes
and
I'm
I.
Don't
know
what
other
plagues
are
left.
That's
going
to
be
imposed
upon
us,
but
the
lessons
that
we
learned
from
Isabel
were
that
we
have
over
200
miles
of
waterfront
in
Baltimore
County
and
we
are
as
susceptible
as
any
other
waterfront
community
to
hurricane
damage.
A
I
think
we
also
understand
how
to
better
mobilize
as
a
result
of
Isabel
and
unfortunately,
Isabel
allowed
us
to
update
a
lot
of
homes
after
the
storm
that
now
meet
the
latest
codes.
So,
hopefully,
a
lot
of
those
homes
that
were
damaged
in
the
past
have
now
been
updated,
so
they're
not
going
to
suffer
to
the
same
extent,
and
so
you
go
through
any
emergency.
It's
good
for
our
public
safety
personnel
to
have
that
experience
firsthand
of
having
done
it
before
any
other
questions.