Topics Related to Emergency Management

Spring is in the air, summer is around the corner and people are enjoying pleasant weather across North Carolina. Hikers are making their way along a mountain trail where a waterfall cascades to the stream below. The stream winds its way through the lush forests to a river that rolls through the Piedmont. Greenways along the riverside are bustling with people pushing strollers and cruising along on a bike ride. The river eventually makes its way to the ocean, where rolling waves break lazily along the coastline.

This time of the year, many North Carolinians are preparing their flowerbeds and gardens for the spring showers that will help the flowers and vegetables grow. As beautiful as spring is in North Carolina, it is also the most active season for severe weather like thunderstorms and tornados. In addition to working on their gardens, North Carolinians are also encouraged to be proactive and prepare for severe weather 

For Black History Month, the Department of Public Safety is spotlighting employees who have gone above and beyond – either through their job or in their free time – to support COVID-19 safety and healing in their communities. Find more inspiring stories here.

Director of Business Systems and Reporting Julendia Gaillard joined NCORR about 18 months ago as the next step in a career that includes more than 40 years of IT development, management and teaching.

One of the most important – yet easily overlooked – ways to be disaster ready is making sure you have critical information stored in a safe place. Having copies of your identification, financial and legal documentation, medical information and critical contacts in a secure, easily accessible location will help you more quickly recover after a disaster. 

August is Preparedness Month in North Carolina. So, it’s somewhat fitting that the month kicked off with a hurricane that brought flooding, damaging winds and tornadoes to the eastern portion of the state. Not to mention the first week ended with a rare magnitude 5.1 earthquake felt throughout the region. 

Yes, the first week of preparedness month was a stark reminder that North Carolina experiences multiple hazards, some of which occur with little to no warning. 

COVID-19 has affected our lives in so many ways. That is especially true when it comes to sheltering plans during an emergency. We are approaching the peak of hurricane season and the landscape for evacuation shelters is drastically different this year. North Carolina Emergency Management officials want you to know what to expect at shelters this year so that you can begin preparing.

Tucked away off Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh in the same secure facility as the NC National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters is the North Carolina State Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Many members of the NC Emergency Management (NCEM) team work here daily, but in times of emergency or during disasters, this building is transformed into an operational war center of state and federal agencies, nonprofit relief organizations, faith-based organizations and some private sector companies.

Know Your Zone, North Carolina’s new system of coastal evacuation zones, launched earlier this month. It’s a tiered evacuation system that focuses on areas most vulnerable to impacts from hurricanes, tropical storms and other hazards. The campaign was implemented to simplify the evacuation process by assigning lettered evacuation zones in each county, based on areas of higher and lower risk of flooding.

On March 25, 2020, North Carolina received a federal major disaster declaration providing public assistance funding to reimburse local governments and certain private nonprofits for some of their response efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.