Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 4 Sep 2018

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From YouTube: Are You Prepared?

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Emergencies can happen without warning. Learn what you should know and do to protect your family.

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(Upbeat techno music).

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Welcome to hello, baltimore county., I'm your host, ellen kobler.. We have already had our share of bad storms in the baltimore region. This year, and the atlantic hurricane season runs through november 1st.

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here to offer us some real word advice on preparing to keep your family safe is baltimore county fire division, chief jay ringgold,.

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Who heads up emergency management and homeland security for the county.? Thank you so much for joining us.

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Tell us a little bit, in baltimore county, of all of the possible emergencies,.

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What are some of the most likely scenarios that you tend to see?.

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Well, this time of year,, most likely scenarios are gonna, be thunderstorms and coastal flooding., of course, we're susceptible to everything in this area.

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With the exception of a volcano.

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Yeah, we're pretty good on that end, yeah.

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But there are, our biggest concerns are,.

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You know, thunderstorms and coastal flooding., but we've had derechos, we've even had earthquakes and also.

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Yep, and the catonsville flooding back on memorial day, that was thunderstorms.

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yes.. It wasn't some big huge, predicted storm., it was just thunderstorms and the flooding was immense.

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That was unusual because, as we refer to it as a no-notice event,, we knew we were gonna get thunderstorms,, but not to that level.

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Yeah. so., so when we get storms like that, we can get flooding.

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What do you advise people to do in case,.

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If,, some of these people were in areas that didn't flood before,, so they don't even think of themselves as needing to prepare for flooding.

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Yeah,, it was really a historical event.. I mean, we got over 10 inches rain in a six-hour period, and no drain system's gonna, be able to handle.

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That amount of rain,, so that was an unusual event and the things you want to do is really pay attention.

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To information that's coming out in the media., also look,, you know, in your neighborhood, what's going on, and whether you have to make the decision, are you gonna evacuate or are you gonna stay?.

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Yep, and you put information regularly.

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Up on twitter, @bacoemergency.

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And you encourage people to follow that? absolutely,. We try to put out updated information.

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During the events on bacoemergency.

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information about closed roads, flooded, areas,.

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Those types of things that we, you know, may need during that time.

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What about insurance for flooding?.

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It's important insurance because most people.

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Didn't have flood insurance,, especially in an area.

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That's not designated as a flood prone area., which is unusual, well unique, because some people.

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Had sewer and backup insurance.

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And because of the flood, many insurance companies did not cover that., so those people that didn't have that,, even though their sewer backed up they weren't covered because of the flood that caused the event.

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So that's a separate rider you can get on your insurance, is sewer back up.

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Absolutely, sewer back up,, we recommend everyone having sewer backup, and even flood insurance.

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depending on the area that you live in is gonna, be what the cost for flood insurance..

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It could range from $400 or $4,000.

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If you're in more of a flood prone, area.

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okay,- and you mentioned thunderstorms, lightning.,.

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Lightning is actually very common and more dangerous than people know,. I think.

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Absolutely, many people a year get struck by lightning.

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plus. It also starts a lot of fires, house fires, forest fires., my goodness. wood fires,, those things. and lightning, is unpredictable.. I mean there are three different types of lightning.

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we're more familiar with the cloud to ground, lightning strike,, but there is also cloud to cloud and cloud to air strikes that never hit the ground., but the ones that we're mostly concerned are the cloud to ground, lightning, strikes.

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So what should people do if you're out, you know, with family and friends, picnicking, sports., you want to be in a protected area,.

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Something that's enclosed., you don't want to be in the front porch or anything like that, because that's still an open area..

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You don't want to be standing next to tall trees, because they're likely to get struck. be in an enclosed room. being in a car,. Most people thought the rubber tires.

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Were protecting you in a car,, but actually it's the steel frame around the car that actually protects you in a lightning strike. oh.. So make sure you have your windows up and you're, not touching any metal in that car.

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windows up,, which you probably would.

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If it's raining anyway,, but you might not think of it, with the static electricity.

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okay, and in general for big storms,.

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Or other types of emergencies,, what do you recommend that people do to plan ahead?.

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One is you want to have a disaster kit and in your kit you want your basic supplies..

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You want food and water., we usually say be self-sustained for three days,, but really you should be prepared for almost seven days.

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[ellen] wow., and not only things in your kit. You want to take in consideration. Is you want to have medication that lasts you for at least seven days.?

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You want to have things for your pets that will last for seven days.. You want to have battery operated radios.

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And flashlights for those events,, you know.

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those things you want to consider, because during a power outage, many people use candles,.

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But that's a fire threat and a hazard. [ellen] yeah., especially if you have small kids around that, creates additional hazard.. So some of the basic things, a manual can opener.

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Because most people use-- yeah,, you don't think about that.

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There's things you don't think about.

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All those things you want to have, basic things: that,, you know, non-perishable items.

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That you can have that, will last you for a duration of time.

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These things you want to have in your kit. and you also,. We all carry these cell phones.

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That are miraculous mini computers, but they're no good when the battery's dead,. So you want to have a way to recharge.

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If the power's out for an extended period.

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Exactly,, a backup battery pack for your cell phones is another thing, and cash., because a lot of atms will be out of service in large power outages,, and you may need cash.

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Yeah, indeed., so what about, so you've got the supplies covered,.

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And by the way people can go to our county website and get more information about that..

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What about the plan?? You know, things happen: suddenly., the family's, not necessarily all together in one place.

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How do you plan to reconnect if roads are closed.

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And there's severe, damage? and part of your plan should be a communication. Plan.

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And some of the things that we found out in some large storms that you cannot make.

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Local calls,, but sometimes you can make long distance, calls.

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really? so having an out-of-state contact where everybody could report to and that person could be a central point of communication,.

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Is something you also want to consider in your plan.

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communication's a big aspect, because we rely on our cell phones and our internet and all that. in large scale disasters most of the time they're gonna be inoperable,, so you're gonna need to have some type of backup, plan.

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mm-hmm,, so the phones will be overwhelmed.

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I remember, I'm sorry, an earthquake a few years ago.

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And it was quite minor in scale,, at least in this area,.

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But you couldn't make a phone call. absolutely. [ellen], but it seemed to me the text messages went through.

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Some texts. is that how that goes?, it's less data using text messages, so these things. another thing is a old-style landline. Phone.

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Most of our phones are wireless phones, or,. You know, that when the power goes out, the base unit goes out and you cannot communicate.

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the old plug phone that just plugs into the wall.

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That doesn't, you know,. It's not a cordless phone,.

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A non-cordless phone,, something like that., because often the phone lines will have their own power.

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And you can still make a phone call with an old-style phone.

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Okay, and if something big is to happen,.

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When and how do you decide to activate the emergency operations center and how does the structure work.

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And what should people know about that? and that's a good question.

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We usually look at the magnitude and the duration of the incident., because many incidents are most of the time are relatively quick. they're over within,, you know, four to six hours., but if it's an extended period of time, and when we say an operational period, we usually say anywhere from eight to 12 hours is an operational period..

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So if we know if this event is gonna extend multiple operational periods, we are gonna open up the emergency operations, center.

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and then also,. What recovery aspects are gonna be in consideration? if it's gonna be a longterm. Recovery, we're gonna open up the emergency operations center, so we can start planning for not only mitigation of that incident,, but the recovery aspects of it.

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And who is in that center and what sorts of things are they doing to help the public?.

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We have a lot of the,. Many of the county agencies are gonna, be in the center, along with private and non-private stakeholders.

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That may also be there.. Our public works division,, our fire department,.

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Our police department, our department of health and human services,, our department of aging,, even department of rec and parks,.

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Those agencies could play a major role in not only response to the thing but recovery aspects.

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and then we're gonna bring in private stake. Holders.

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you know,, bg, & e may be in there,.

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Salvation army, red cross,, health, hospitals,.

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These things also could be a part of the emergency management.

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Okay, and we'll mention again the twitter @bacoemergency, because that's a good way for people to get direct information from you and your colleagues as to what they should know and what they should do.

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Absolutely, we try to post regularly on twitter,.

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Whether local events or smaller events and large scale events and giving you information,, where shelters, may be open, road closures,.

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We got boards that we're gonna direct you to all these things that we're gonna put out on twitter..

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That way, you can be prepared during that disaster.

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And we should note that if somebody isn't a person who's really using twitter, they can still go to it as a website and see the information. yes.

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And your information is also on the county, website,.

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The county, facebook and the other social media platforms.

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Sometimes you'll tell people to evacuate.

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Or shelter in place., how do you make those determinations?.

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That's a big thing. when it comes down to emergency plan. It comes down to two things,. Do I stay or do I go? right., and if I stay,, what resources do I need to be self-sufficient and sustain myself for a duration of this event??

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If I go,, where do I go to?

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a lot of times we may open up. Shelters.

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shelters are gonna, probably be relatively full whether,.

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Local or state shelters,, but most people say well I'll, just go to a hotel, room.

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Well, many other people are thinking the same thing.

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So you may have to go farther away or have relatives that you can go to, these types of things., a local,, a relative in a far,, a long distance relative is a great plan.

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Okay,, well, that's a good tip. all right,. So it sounds to me like you're, saying, be prepared, stay aware, and keep informed.

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Through bacoemergency.

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Well, thank you very much for taking time to join us. Today.

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Thank you. sure, and thank you for watching hello, baltimore county., don't forget,! You can find out more about preparing for emergencies on the county website and by connecting with baltimore county government on all of our social media. Platforms.

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(upbeat, techno music).