Shannon Weiner, director of Monroe County Emergency Management, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
The Emergency Operations Center opened on Monday and is now in full swing – just in time for a tropical storm.
Weiner said, “Some of you might have woken up this morning to see that the entire chain of the Florida Keys is under a tropical storm warning for Tropical Storm Helene and Helene is a very big storm in diameter. She covers a lot of ground, so as she stays to our west and moves north and develops into a hurricane, we are going to feel those tropical storm like impacts throughout the Keys, beginning late this evening, close to midnight, and then throughout the day tomorrow, clearing as the day goes on. It’s a fast moving storm. So that’s a good thing. But everyone should have their plan for tomorrow, and they should have any protective measures they need, their boats secured, their homes secured. No loose objects in the yard. We ask you to pick all of those up, because when those strong winds come through, they act like missiles. So by sunset tonight, we ask everyone to have their homes, their boats, their RVs, their campers secured. We’re looking at some localized flooding, all the places we know we are known to flood flood. There is a storm surge watch out for the Keys as well. So if you are known to be vulnerable to that flooding, be aware. It’s not going to be as severe as Ian, but there is some expected. The wind gusts are going to be 30 miles per hour sustained it’s looking like, so if you are a live aboard, live in an RV camper or mobile home, we’re going to ask you, please seek shelter tomorrow with friends and family, because it is going to be a very windy, squally day, and everyone should be staying off the water and off the road tomorrow.”
The water could get as high as one to three feet.
Weiner said, “The weather service, definitely keep monitoring their website. Keep monitoring the Monroe County Emergency Management website, or keeping in touch with both of those entities on Facebook and social media is the best way to get quick updates. There will be announcements throughout the day, we’ll have more weather updates as the day goes on and updates from the county, but we really want to encourage everyone to be aware and continue to monitor because as that storm passes to our west tomorrow, it’s going to get pretty rough over here in the Keys.”
Alert Monroe is also a good way to get information.
Weiner said, “If you sign up for them, you’ll get messages from Alert Monroe, and you’ll also get weather messages from the National Weather Service as well. So it’s very great tool. You get that two for one, and then we have the ability at Monroe County Emergency Management to support our partners with any messages that they need to get out in an emergency as well. So it’s good to have it and know that we only use it when it’s really important. So you’re not going to be inundated with messages, unless there’s a situation or safety message that needs to be communicated to our residents and visitors.”
There hasn’t been any danger of evacuations at this time, but it is something to be aware of.
Weiner said, “We’re no stranger to tropical storm conditions here and severe weather in the Florida Keys, and we have our brand new emergency operation center is activated to a level two. We call that a partial activation. So the partners will be available to communicate if we have electrical outages or street flooding, and we’re going to be doing our best to work with them to get them what they need to rectify those situations quickly and keep our community safe.”
What does the 30 mph winds mean to the area?
Weiner said, “The range is 30 to 40 miles per hour sustained winds. As you get to 35 miles per hour sustained winds, that’s when those high profile vehicles, it’s dangerous for them to be on the road. So not any weather like I said that we want to be driving around with but bring in your patio furniture, bring any potted plants, those types of things, bicycles, bring it in, have it secured. Because those things blowing around can do some damage, not just to themselves, but to anything they might blow into. It’ll be definitely an inside day tomorrow here in the Florida Keys.”
For more information, click here: https://monroecountyem.com/1324/Emergency-Management