Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And Palm Beach County is at a Level two activation
from the Emergency Operations Center.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
They have been meeting this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
And you know the old saying about during times of adversity,
you want to be surrounded by the kind of person
that you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Would take into battle with you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'll tell you what if you uh, if you're heading
into an emergency situation, Palm Beach County's Emergency Management Director,
Mary Blakeney, is absolutely one of those people that you
want to take it about. I actually she'd be leading,
uh leading that charge, and she's joining us now.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you for taking the time with us.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
No, I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
All right, So what's the word out of Palm Beach
County this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well, you know, this is this is really one of
those storms that we're really looking out for our friends
and our peers and our neighbors on the West coast
for what they're going to be going through today. But
you know here on the East Coast, we're gonna we're
going to feel some impacts of this storm. You know,
you can't have a storm of this size and this
magnitude and think that we're not going to feel it. Right,
(01:02):
It's so important for people to realize that a storm
is so much bigger than the center of the cone
or even the cone itself. We're preparing for those impacts
well outside of the of the cone as it currently
is within the.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
State and Mary as Pump's Cunny is at a level
to parsional activation.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
What does that mean.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
So we have some of our key stakeholders here. We
are making some protective action decision making here in the
county because of those impacts that we expect to feel.
We are under a tropical storm watch. Fortunately this morning
our flood warning was canceled, so they don't anticipate as
much rainfall flooding as we have been planning for. But
(01:45):
we are still preparing for those tropical storm force sustained
winds with higher gusts. So we are activating shelters here
within the county. So we have brought in all those
partners and stakeholders and county government departments that help us
with that process when we activate. So we're at that
level too, because we have a whole cadre of people
(02:08):
here within our EOC that are here to protect the
residents of Palm Beach County through this and to then
focus on our community after the storm passes, just to
make sure we're back with public safety and back in
operational as normal as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And you mentioned the shelters opening at noon today Forest
Hill Community High School, like Shore Middle School, Palm Beach
Central High School, Palm Beach Gardens High School, Park Vista
High School, and the pet Friendly shelter that's located at
the West Boydon Recreation Center. The only one opening before
that ten o'clock for the special needs shelter.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Mary.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Some people were kind of surprised yesterday later in the
day when we had a Zone A evacuation take place.
Tell us about that and what people in Zone A
should be mindful of this morning.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Well, really, we're focusing in Zone really encompasses our mobile homes,
those individuals and mobile homes, individuals that are concerned about
their current structure, maybe they know their roof is compromised
and and there's a level of concern there, or people
that are known for flooding because you know, we were
in a we were in a flood flood warning, So
(03:19):
we are concerned about those people that are concerned about
their safety within their structure. We are going to have
we are going to see some level of damage if
we get these sustained tropical storm force winds and the GUS.
So we wanted to provide an opportunity for those individuals
to be in a safe environment until this storm passes.
So that is why we looked at evacuation Zone A
(03:40):
because it encompasses those properties. It's this evacuation zone is
really the one zone that we we evacuate within the
county that has to do with the structural integrity of
the building that you're in, and we focus on the wind.
The rest of our zones really focus on storm search,
which we don't anticipate any storm surge with this, so
(04:01):
we're really focusing on this event for wind impacts within
Pallyach County and Mary.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Obviously, the further north you are the worst the conditions
are expected to be. Of course, a hurricane warning kicks
in north of Martin County, but then you also have
the hurricane watch that is in effect right now for
Lake Okechobee. Is this is a situation where you anticipate
western communities in the Palm Beaches and specifically in the
vicinity of Lake o to receive the worst weather.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, you know this storm. Obviously it's a west approaching storm,
so the western communities are going to feel it feel
those impacts, maybe even greater than some of our southern
part of the county. But we're still you know, every
advisory that comes out, there still could be an additional
shift to the south. So it's very important. This is
(04:52):
such a strong storm and very unpredictable, and a slight
even shift that you could see over the Gulf waters
could impact hundreds of miles or tens of miles regardless
of where it could impact us on land, So it's
so important. I know people want to take that cone
(05:14):
and zoom in and try to find their neighborhood, their street,
their community, but it's much more difficult than that. And
we don't know how large this storm is even going
to expand before it makes landfall, So we need to
be prepared for rainfall and we need to be prepared
for the wind impacts for Palm Beach County.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You mentioned the flood warning being dropped. That is encouraging news.
We talked to CBS twelves Larneleski. She had mentioned that
we're on the dry side of this hurricane as it's approaching,
which we'll take for sure after all the rain we've had,
that's that it does look like there is a fair
amount of tornadic activity in this system already. There have
(05:54):
been a number of tornado warnings that have been issued
as far east as western Miami Dade this morning. In fact,
we just recently had a couple around a mockoly in
Collger County on southwest Florida's coast. What are your expectations
for tornatachrisk today, Well.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
We definitely are going to have heightened awareness of tornadic activity.
And I just want to I want to tell I
want to remind people or even if your if your
listeners weren't aware. You know, Palm Beach County was the
county that had the first impacts of Hurricane Ian. When
Hurricane Ian was out there, we know how catastrophic that
was to the West coast, but Palm Beach County received
(06:39):
a tornado prior in that first wind band that came
across from Hurricane Ian. We we had a tornado that
impacted Palm Beach County and actually over sixty of our
our residents had their homes major damage or destroyed.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
That was the one that that was the one that
hit King's Point right, del.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Ray, absolutely, So tornadoes are definitely a threat with this.
So we just encourage our residents stay aware of what's
happening with the weather. Don't don't look at the last
weather forecast or the last prediction that came up by
the Hurricane Center and think you're out of the woods,
because we have a long road ahead of us. Today.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I'm Brian mudw with Joel mallikin. This is Operation Stormwatch coverage.
We'll be here throughout the duration of this event. We're
speaking with Palm Beach County's Emergency Management Director, Mary Blakeney.
And Mary, you mentioned you know reference point and you
know Tornado and Ian just a couple of years ago.
One of my favorite statistics that even people who have
(07:41):
lived here the entire time, you know, get caught by
surprise and thinking about if Florida has gone through so
many hurricane events for the past couple of decades, but
you actually have to go all the way back to
October of two thousand and five and Hurricane Wilman have
one that actually went straight through Palm Beach County. That
of course a Gulf storm that made its way across
(08:02):
the state and so one of the things that I'm
always mindful of our growth and people who have not
been here through any type of a hurricane situation. But
then also the complacency that can come with thinking, Okay,
well I have a reference point, it happened to be
ex event.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
One.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
We know that these are all unique events and they
can be unpredictable. But also, I mean truth of the
matter is you can have people that have lived in
Palm Beach County for nineteen years that really haven't experienced a.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Hurricane absolutely, and you know, you go back to twenty
years ago was the U four season with Francis and
Jean that impacted Palm Beach County, and then nineteen years
ago that that reference to Hurricane Wilma. And I think
that as much as we do not want to look
(08:52):
at every storm, you know, look at the past storm
and say this is how we're going to be impacted,
that is a great example. Hurricane Wilma is a great
example of how our communities on the Eastern coast can
be impacted by a Gulf storm approaching storm. You know
that came in off the Gulf, it came across and
it did a lot of damage to Palm Beach County
(09:15):
nineteen years ago. And people need to realize a storm
doesn't have to come off the Atlantic Coast to impact
our community. It can come in the Gulf, because that's
what these storms do. They have so much energy, they're
so large, and there's so many hazards within a hurricane.
It's not about being near the eye. It's about all
of those other hazards that happen outside of a hurricane,
(09:38):
which which we've talked about, the heavy winds, the tornadic activity,
and the rainfall. So I just we need to be
aware of those hazards and just be ready for those,
you know, over over the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Mary Joel Malkin, you mentioned these shelters earlier, several of them.
Several of them open at noon today in Palm Beach County,
including a pet friendly shelter at the West Point and
Recreational Center. Also the special Needs shelter, and I know
that opens in the ten o'clock hour and you have
to register for that first. Can you tell me you
(10:14):
know what folks might need that shelter. When we just
say special needs, you know what what kind of folks
might need that shelter? And how can they register for
it and can they still do that?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, people can can register through that, and we want
people to even continue to register. They can get to
registration information on our website READYPBC dot com and there's
a they can go right to the Special Needs Registry
link and register for that. But in addition to that,
if people feel like they need that service and what
(10:47):
that service is, it is for individuals with special medical conditions,
those that primarily need electric dependent and that's primarily what
those special needs clients are. Electric dependent. They need medical
devices to survive on day to day basis, and we
want to make sure that those people have that electric
(11:10):
should we have some level of power outage where they live,
so it's not too late to register, we'd encourage people
to do that. And then we also have a transportation
you know, we are working with our transportation providers to
get people to not only the special need shelters, but
we have our Palm tran buses that will take individuals
(11:32):
all throughout the county to whatever shelter is closest to them.
So you know, if you are transportation dependent, that's not
a reason to not go to a shelter. We will
get you to the shelter throughout the day today, But
we want people to make those plans now and when
those shelters open, be ready to go there if they
want to take advantage of those shelter operations, because we
(11:55):
want individuals to be safe throughout the duration of this storm.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Now, that should mention noon today Palm Trans service, the
general service is shutting down along with the trrail of course,
but I don't want to confuse people because you mentioned
Palm trand though will remain in service to take folks
to the shelters.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Correct, Correct, the Palm Trans services will work as late
as they can to get people into those shelters that
those people that are seeking shelter, and I can tell
you know, we have we have a little bit of
time still this morning for people to make those plans
and decide to go to those shelters. But by the
(12:35):
time we get to the later afternoon into the evening hours,
people need to be ready and place and plan to
shelter in place wherever they're going to be, because we're
going to start seeing you know, the onset of those
winds later this afternoon into this evening and through the
overnight hours. So we don't want people to wait too
late where they won't be able to get to where
(12:58):
they feel safe and be able to shelter in a
safe environment.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And speaking of the shelters, I know there's an effort
underway starting yesterday with the homeless population throughout the county
making sure that they were secure and as shelters as necessary.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Absolutely, and you know, we look at every single individual,
whether they're a resident a visitor in this county. We
want to make sure, regardless of why you're here in
Palm Beach County, that you're safe and during these events.
So we have done a lot of efforts to do
outreach for not only the homeless community, but working with
(13:33):
our you know, our Visitor and Tourism Bureau understanding and
there's some great resources out there of hotel availabilities and
a lot of hotels are providing discounts because it's not
just the Palm Beach County residence right now. I mean,
this storm is so large that we're getting a lot
of visitors into our community that are evacuating other areas.
(13:55):
So we want to make sure that not only Palm
Beache County residents are safe, but also the people that
are here evacuating from from their communities.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Well, you and you bring up a good point about,
you know, the evacuating from other communities too. At this point,
the weather is is worse north even now. I mean,
if you get north of really Sebastian at this point
ninety five north, let alone Turnpike, it's just kind of
a hot mess out there and doesn't look like it's
going to get better through the duration of this thing. So,
you know, given that's the case, do you anticipate that
(14:28):
there might be more people that decide to head south
even this morning into the afternoon.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, I mean, we we we take that into consideration,
and we've talked about that a lot that you know,
the people that you know seek refuge in our shelters.
We anticipate to have people that are that are in
our shelters once we open that are that are not
necessarily from Palm Beach County, and that's okay. We don't
turn anyone away. And that's important for people to realize
(14:57):
that we don't want people on the roads, we don't
want people sitting in cars, we don't want people you know,
in parking lots somewhere because they've escaped the West coast
and they're gonna they're going to sit in their cars
during tropical stormforced winds. We have the shelters open and
we you know, when we open those shelters, they're open
to whoever whoever wants to seek refuge. So that's an
(15:19):
important thing for us, and in Palm Beach County, we
want to take care of our residents and our visitors well,
and you do.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Anen off a good job of it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
One other node is the app, the PPC Dart app.
I know you keep the emergency information updated on that
as well.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Correct we have our phone app. It's a great tool
for residents of Palm Beach County because they can plug
in their address and see if they're in an evacuation zone.
But we also keep information updated on that on a
regular basis. But for our residents as well, they can
they can actually share any damage that they sustain to
their home, and it helps us understand what's happening out
(15:58):
there in our community. And that information comes right back
here to the EOC and we can quickly begin to
begin to go to a good situational awareness of what's
going on in the county. Palmage County is so large,
and we want to make sure that we're recovering as
quickly as possible.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Palm Beach County's Emergency Management Director, Mary Blakeney, thank you
so much for the update. We'll look forward to checking
back with you throughout the duration of this event.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
BET and again mentioned the kind of person you want
to take into battle with or probably start calling her
General Blake, speaking of which, actually we are going to
have the States General, the Attorney General anyway, Ashley Moody
coming up on the other side.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Mary does a great job though, Yeah, yeah, she really does.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I mean, you know, these folks have been battle tested
and through a lot for a long time and ready
to go.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yesterday in the afternoon, we got an update from the
Palm Beach County officials, and County Mayor Maria Sachs addressed
the media. She said there are changes coming today.
And Palm Beach County is at a Level two activation
from the Emergency Operations Center.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
They have been meeting this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
And you know the old saying about during times of adversity,
you want to be surrounded by the kind of person
that you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Would take into battle with you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'll tell you what if you uh, if you're heading
into an emergency situation, Palm Beach County's Emergency Management Director,
Mary Blakeney, is absolutely one of those people that you
want to take it about. I actually she'd be leading,
uh leading that charge, and she's joining us now.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you for taking the time with us.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
No, I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
All right, So what's the word out of Palm Beach
County this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well, you know, this is this is really one of
those storms that we're really looking out for our friends
and our peers and our neighbors on the West coast
for what they're going to be going through today. But
you know here on the East Coast, we're gonna we're
going to feel some impacts of this storm. You know,
you can't have a storm of this size and this
magnitude and think that we're not going to feel it. Right,
(01:02):
It's so important for people to realize that a storm
is so much bigger than the center of the cone
or even the cone itself. We're preparing for those impacts
well outside of the of the cone as it currently
is within the.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
State and Mary as Pump's Cunny is at a level
to parsional activation.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
What does that mean.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
So we have some of our key stakeholders here. We
are making some protective action decision making here in the
county because of those impacts that we expect to feel.
We are under a tropical storm watch. Fortunately this morning
our flood warning was canceled, so they don't anticipate as
much rainfall flooding as we have been planning for. But
(01:45):
we are still preparing for those tropical storm force sustained
winds with higher gusts. So we are activating shelters here
within the county. So we have brought in all those
partners and stakeholders and county government departments that help us
with that process when we activate. So we're at that
level too, because we have a whole cadre of people
(02:08):
here within our EOC that are here to protect the
residents of Palm Beach County through this and to then
focus on our community after the storm passes, just to
make sure we're back with public safety and back in
operational as normal as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And you mentioned the shelters opening at noon today Forest
Hill Community High School, like Shore Middle School, Palm Beach
Central High School, Palm Beach Gardens High School, Park Vista
High School, and the pet Friendly shelter that's located at
the West Boydon Recreation Center. The only one opening before
that ten o'clock for the special needs shelter.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Mary.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Some people were kind of surprised yesterday later in the
day when we had a Zone A evacuation take place.
Tell us about that and what people in Zone A
should be mindful of this morning.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Well, really, we're focusing in Zone really encompasses our mobile homes,
those individuals and mobile homes, individuals that are concerned about
their current structure, maybe they know their roof is compromised
and and there's a level of concern there, or people
that are known for flooding because you know, we were
in a we were in a flood flood warning, So
(03:19):
we are concerned about those people that are concerned about
their safety within their structure. We are going to have
we are going to see some level of damage if
we get these sustained tropical storm force winds and the GUS.
So we wanted to provide an opportunity for those individuals
to be in a safe environment until this storm passes.
So that is why we looked at evacuation Zone A
(03:40):
because it encompasses those properties. It's this evacuation zone is
really the one zone that we we evacuate within the
county that has to do with the structural integrity of
the building that you're in, and we focus on the wind.
The rest of our zones really focus on storm search,
which we don't anticipate any storm surge with this, so
(04:01):
we're really focusing on this event for wind impacts within
Pallyach County and Mary.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Obviously, the further north you are the worst the conditions
are expected to be. Of course, a hurricane warning kicks
in north of Martin County, but then you also have
the hurricane watch that is in effect right now for
Lake Okechobee. Is this is a situation where you anticipate
western communities in the Palm Beaches and specifically in the
vicinity of Lake o to receive the worst weather.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, you know this storm. Obviously it's a west approaching storm,
so the western communities are going to feel it feel
those impacts, maybe even greater than some of our southern
part of the county. But we're still you know, every
advisory that comes out, there still could be an additional
shift to the south. So it's very important. This is
(04:52):
such a strong storm and very unpredictable, and a slight
even shift that you could see over the Gulf waters
could impact hundreds of miles or tens of miles regardless
of where it could impact us on land, So it's
so important. I know people want to take that cone
(05:14):
and zoom in and try to find their neighborhood, their street,
their community, but it's much more difficult than that. And
we don't know how large this storm is even going
to expand before it makes landfall, So we need to
be prepared for rainfall and we need to be prepared
for the wind impacts for Palm Beach County.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
You mentioned the flood warning being dropped. That is encouraging news.
We talked to CBS twelves Larneleski. She had mentioned that
we're on the dry side of this hurricane as it's approaching,
which we'll take for sure after all the rain we've had,
that's that it does look like there is a fair
amount of tornadic activity in this system already. There have
(05:54):
been a number of tornado warnings that have been issued
as far east as western Miami Dade this morning. In fact,
we just recently had a couple around a mockoly in
Collger County on southwest Florida's coast. What are your expectations
for tornatachrisk today, Well.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
We definitely are going to have heightened awareness of tornadic activity.
And I just want to I want to tell I
want to remind people or even if your if your
listeners weren't aware. You know, Palm Beach County was the
county that had the first impacts of Hurricane Ian. When
Hurricane Ian was out there, we know how catastrophic that
was to the West coast, but Palm Beach County received
(06:39):
a tornado prior in that first wind band that came
across from Hurricane Ian. We we had a tornado that
impacted Palm Beach County and actually over sixty of our
our residents had their homes major damage or destroyed.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
That was the one that that was the one that
hit King's Point right, del.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Ray, absolutely, So tornadoes are definitely a threat with this.
So we just encourage our residents stay aware of what's
happening with the weather. Don't don't look at the last
weather forecast or the last prediction that came up by
the Hurricane Center and think you're out of the woods,
because we have a long road ahead of us. Today.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I'm Brian mudw with Joel mallikin. This is Operation Stormwatch coverage.
We'll be here throughout the duration of this event. We're
speaking with Palm Beach County's Emergency Management Director, Mary Blakeney.
And Mary, you mentioned you know reference point and you
know Tornado and Ian just a couple of years ago.
One of my favorite statistics that even people who have
(07:41):
lived here the entire time, you know, get caught by
surprise and thinking about if Florida has gone through so
many hurricane events for the past couple of decades, but
you actually have to go all the way back to
October of two thousand and five and Hurricane Wilman have
one that actually went straight through Palm Beach County. That
of course a Gulf storm that made its way across
(08:02):
the state and so one of the things that I'm
always mindful of our growth and people who have not
been here through any type of a hurricane situation. But
then also the complacency that can come with thinking, Okay,
well I have a reference point, it happened to be
ex event.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
One.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
We know that these are all unique events and they
can be unpredictable. But also, I mean truth of the
matter is you can have people that have lived in
Palm Beach County for nineteen years that really haven't experienced a.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Hurricane absolutely, and you know, you go back to twenty
years ago was the U four season with Francis and
Jean that impacted Palm Beach County, and then nineteen years
ago that that reference to Hurricane Wilma. And I think
that as much as we do not want to look
(08:52):
at every storm, you know, look at the past storm
and say this is how we're going to be impacted,
that is a great example. Hurricane Wilma is a great
example of how our communities on the Eastern coast can
be impacted by a Gulf storm approaching storm. You know
that came in off the Gulf, it came across and
it did a lot of damage to Palm Beach County
(09:15):
nineteen years ago. And people need to realize a storm
doesn't have to come off the Atlantic Coast to impact
our community. It can come in the Gulf, because that's
what these storms do. They have so much energy, they're
so large, and there's so many hazards within a hurricane.
It's not about being near the eye. It's about all
of those other hazards that happen outside of a hurricane,
(09:38):
which which we've talked about, the heavy winds, the tornadic activity,
and the rainfall. So I just we need to be
aware of those hazards and just be ready for those,
you know, over over the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Mary Joel Malkin, you mentioned these shelters earlier, several of them.
Several of them open at noon today in Palm Beach County,
including a pet friendly shelter at the West Point and
Recreational Center. Also the special Needs shelter, and I know
that opens in the ten o'clock hour and you have
to register for that first. Can you tell me you
(10:14):
know what folks might need that shelter. When we just
say special needs, you know what what kind of folks
might need that shelter? And how can they register for
it and can they still do that?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, people can can register through that, and we want
people to even continue to register. They can get to
registration information on our website READYPBC dot com and there's
a they can go right to the Special Needs Registry
link and register for that. But in addition to that,
if people feel like they need that service and what
(10:47):
that service is, it is for individuals with special medical conditions,
those that primarily need electric dependent and that's primarily what
those special needs clients are. Electric dependent. They need medical
devices to survive on day to day basis, and we
want to make sure that those people have that electric
(11:10):
should we have some level of power outage where they live,
so it's not too late to register, we'd encourage people
to do that. And then we also have a transportation
you know, we are working with our transportation providers to
get people to not only the special need shelters, but
we have our Palm tran buses that will take individuals
(11:32):
all throughout the county to whatever shelter is closest to them.
So you know, if you are transportation dependent, that's not
a reason to not go to a shelter. We will
get you to the shelter throughout the day today, But
we want people to make those plans now and when
those shelters open, be ready to go there if they
want to take advantage of those shelter operations, because we
(11:55):
want individuals to be safe throughout the duration of this storm.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Now, that should mention noon today Palm Trans service, the
general service is shutting down along with the trrail of course,
but I don't want to confuse people because you mentioned
Palm trand though will remain in service to take folks
to the shelters.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Correct, Correct, the Palm Trans services will work as late
as they can to get people into those shelters that
those people that are seeking shelter, and I can tell
you know, we have we have a little bit of
time still this morning for people to make those plans
and decide to go to those shelters. But by the
(12:35):
time we get to the later afternoon into the evening hours,
people need to be ready and place and plan to
shelter in place wherever they're going to be, because we're
going to start seeing you know, the onset of those
winds later this afternoon into this evening and through the
overnight hours. So we don't want people to wait too
late where they won't be able to get to where
(12:58):
they feel safe and be able to shelter in a
safe environment.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And speaking of the shelters, I know there's an effort
underway starting yesterday with the homeless population throughout the county
making sure that they were secure and as shelters as necessary.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Absolutely, and you know, we look at every single individual,
whether they're a resident a visitor in this county. We
want to make sure, regardless of why you're here in
Palm Beach County, that you're safe and during these events.
So we have done a lot of efforts to do
outreach for not only the homeless community, but working with
(13:33):
our you know, our Visitor and Tourism Bureau understanding and
there's some great resources out there of hotel availabilities and
a lot of hotels are providing discounts because it's not
just the Palm Beach County residence right now. I mean,
this storm is so large that we're getting a lot
of visitors into our community that are evacuating other areas.
(13:55):
So we want to make sure that not only Palm
Beache County residents are safe, but also the people that
are here evacuating from from their communities.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Well, you and you bring up a good point about,
you know, the evacuating from other communities too. At this point,
the weather is is worse north even now. I mean,
if you get north of really Sebastian at this point
ninety five north, let alone Turnpike, it's just kind of
a hot mess out there and doesn't look like it's
going to get better through the duration of this thing. So,
you know, given that's the case, do you anticipate that
(14:28):
there might be more people that decide to head south
even this morning into the afternoon.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, I mean, we we we take that into consideration,
and we've talked about that a lot that you know,
the people that you know seek refuge in our shelters.
We anticipate to have people that are that are in
our shelters once we open that are that are not
necessarily from Palm Beach County, and that's okay. We don't
turn anyone away. And that's important for people to realize
(14:57):
that we don't want people on the roads, we don't
want people sitting in cars, we don't want people you know,
in parking lots somewhere because they've escaped the West coast
and they're gonna they're going to sit in their cars
during tropical stormforced winds. We have the shelters open and
we you know, when we open those shelters, they're open
to whoever whoever wants to seek refuge. So that's an
(15:19):
important thing for us, and in Palm Beach County, we
want to take care of our residents and our visitors well,
and you do.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Anen off a good job of it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
One other node is the app, the PPC Dart app.
I know you keep the emergency information updated on that
as well.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Correct we have our phone app. It's a great tool
for residents of Palm Beach County because they can plug
in their address and see if they're in an evacuation zone.
But we also keep information updated on that on a
regular basis. But for our residents as well, they can
they can actually share any damage that they sustain to
their home, and it helps us understand what's happening out
(15:58):
there in our community. And that information comes right back
here to the EOC and we can quickly begin to
begin to go to a good situational awareness of what's
going on in the county. Palmage County is so large,
and we want to make sure that we're recovering as
quickly as possible.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Palm Beach County's Emergency Management Director, Mary Blakeney, thank you
so much for the update. We'll look forward to checking
back with you throughout the duration of this event.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
BET and again mentioned the kind of person you want
to take into battle with or probably start calling her
General Blake, speaking of which, actually we are going to
have the States General, the Attorney General anyway, Ashley Moody
coming up on the other side.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Mary does a great job though, Yeah, yeah, she really does.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I mean, you know, these folks have been battle tested
and through a lot for a long time and ready
to go.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yesterday in the afternoon, we got an update from the
Palm Beach County officials, and County Mayor Maria Sachs addressed
the media. She said there are changes coming today.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.