Florida mayor speaks on prepping for Debby landfall

Mayor John Dailey shares his input on the potential dangers when Debby arrives and how to best prepare ahead of landfall.

Transcript

00:00Joining us now is John Daly, Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida. Thanks so much for being with us.

00:05Thank you. And you're out there now. We can see the breezy conditions right now, but

00:09Mayor Daly, how is the capital city preparing for this specific storm?

00:14Well, this has been a very interesting year, starting back with Adelia just a year ago. We

00:19had three tornadoes touchdown in May, and here we're looking at another hurricane coming straight

00:23our way. But we are prepared. We've been working really hard. We've been working with the county

00:28and with the state as well to make sure that we have our assets in place, that we have our

00:32individuals in place. We've called in mutual aid agreements for electric restoration from Alabama,

00:38from Louisiana. Of course, everyone in Florida is looking to see exactly where it's going to land,

00:43but we are prepared and we're moving forward. We'll be ready to restore power and get back

00:49to normal after the storm. Now, you've had a busy year, to say the least, and I can just hear the

00:53confidence in your voice, so I'm sure that is reassuring for all the folks in Tallahassee.

00:58What are your teams most concerned about today, and then what's to come with the storm?

01:03Well, you mentioned earlier about the rain, and that is a concern of ours. Obviously,

01:07with the hurricane, you're going to have a wind event, but because of the fact that the system

01:11is moving so slow, it adds to the effect of being able to dump a lot of rain in our area.

01:17So we have been deploying sandbags to our residents and making sure that they're taken

01:21care of. We're taking our assets and our individuals, team members, down to the low

01:26line areas where we have our pump stations to make sure that we have electric generators in

01:30case we lose power, so we can continue with the operations of the city as well. It's all

01:36pre-planning, leading up to the storm, but we are very cautious of the fact that we could have a

01:41lot of rain and wind. Yeah, and I'm seeing how much you guys have been preparing. People who

01:48are preparing to stay, but are there any plans for any kind of possible evacuation or shelter

01:52if it was needed? So we are a sheltered organization, I mean a city, excuse me,

01:58because we are inland. We are opening up six shelters through Leon County School System

02:03in partnership with the school district, so that those down on the coast that are coming in and

02:08those residents here in Tallahassee that might need to take shelter will have shelter available.

02:12Those six shelters are up and running. They're prepared. We are ready to take people as they

02:17need help. And Mayor, what do you want your residents to do to get ready for the rest of today?

02:23So the rest of today is the day to really truly get prepared. If there's anything left that you

02:27need at the store or whatnot, now is the time to go out. We expect the wind obviously to increase

02:33throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening. The rains will come and of course tomorrow stay

02:38inside, be safe, and let the professionals do their job once the storm passes us.