Pierce County Public Safety Director Blake James provided the Blackshear Rotary Club with a summary of the county’s storm preparedness efforts and storm recovery update three weeks out from Hurricane Helene.
James reported the storm forecast for Pierce County changed drastically just 24 hours before its arrival. The storm took a sharp turn east in our direction, but did lessen slightly in intensity from the initial landfall forecast. Helene caused historic damage to Pierce County with wind gusts reported at 98 mph, but hardly an inch of rainfall. Ninety percent of damages were related to high winds and falling trees.
“Once daylight broke, the county’s response team surveyed our most vulnerable communities. We found homes with trees through the middle, roofs gone, mobile homes with the walls blown out,” James says.
James is most proud of the county’s efforts to set up a shelter here – the first he has record of one opening in Pierce. At the shelter’s highest capacity, Red Cross was serving 40 residents. “It was a necessary effort for our most vulnerable,” James says.
James credits the county’s ability to clear all roads quickly to community response. “It was neighbors helping neighbors,” James said. He also praised local churches, businesses and other volunteers for providing hot meals and additional resources.
The county team distributed 15,000 pounds of ice and 50 pallets of water to citizens left without water by Hurricane Helene.
James is now in the process of completing after action reports. Identifying a need for additional generators, James is completing a grant application to purchase the equipment.
Pierce Co. Public Safety Director Blake James (left), pictured above with Rotarian Sarah Gove, delivered an update on storm recovery efforts to a meeting of the Rotary Club three weeks after the historic Hurricane Helene.
