Watch Live: City of New Orleans announces prep for Francine

well thank you all again so much uh for being here as you can see we have a UniFi command uh leadership across the board who is present uh for this press conference updating the public and our visitors relative to Tropical Storm Francine uh that is on her way uh we're monitoring uh this tropical storm as you know very closely uh we've been doing so uh over the weekend but definitely had a mayor's briefing on this afternoon 1 p.m. officially formed we know Francine did in the southwestern section of the Gulf of Mexico expected to make landfall along our Coast Wednesday evening as a category one hurricane we're urging all residents and all of our visitors to take precaution and to prepare prepare for Heavy Rain gust winds and isolated tornado activity this is what we have been told this afternoon heavy rain wind and isolated tornadoes potentially impacts we've been told will start on Tuesday evening and last until Thursday morning rainfall expected to be 4 to 6 Ines and of course some localized uh area flooding we could see uh coordinating of course with all of our partners both local state and federal as well as our partners relative to our hospitality and tourism industry we know that we have of course visitors in the City of New Orleans now again is the time to finalize your storm plans and to prepare not only for your families also looking out for your neighbors as we know New Orleans we know all too well our First Responders tend to be our residents meaning our neighbors your neighbors so know who they are know what they needs are and work collectively again to protect one another prepare to shelter in place that's what we're going to be doing again preparing to shelter in place got to go back to being a good neighbor checking on one another particularly our elderly which we know always tend to show up as our most vulnerable population of people in our city you're going to hear from other leaders after me that will give you more uh information but we always want to encourage our residents as well as our visitors to text Nola ready all one word to 77295 to get real time updates from the City of New Orleans we're standing up our n rec centers you're going to hear more about that that and of course we're working with our partners relative to solar for all as well as our community lighthouses that the City of New Orleans has invested in again with our partners around the city the good news is that we've invested and also the good news because we've invested we're going to be able to see those lighthouses in our community in key areas uh meeting our people where they are in the city we know the future and sustainability of New Orleans again depend depends on all of us in terms of how we adapt to climate that has already changed we're going to be making sand bags available you'll hear more from this and working with all of our partners on the New Orleans city council relative to distribution sites so at this time I would like to call up uh my director of Homeland Security Colin Arnold and you will hear from more leaders after Colin come forth please afternoon everybody uh the office of Homeland Security emergency preparedness is monitoring this system tropical storm Francine recently upgraded this morning um has the potential uh to become a category one hurricane is what we're hearing at this point we always kind of plan ahead that um you know you go one level above uh we do believe that this is a shelter in place scenario storm and that uh for the you know the public uh they should be uh pay a lot of attention to this um enact their plan for a shelter in place lower level uh indirect hit from a tropical storm or category 1 hurricane uh it appears it will be coming into the west of us at this point we'll obviously be monitoring the forecast to see if there has been some East Movement uh overnight and into today uh but it it the models seem to be in pretty much agreement that um you know we are looking at uh potentially uh rain um anywhere from four to 6 inches over the entire event so that would be basically you know from say now until uh Thursday Thursday evening um but I think that Wednesday and Thursday are going to be uh the days that are going to be most impactful for our for our city and for our area and that um people should really consider uh Wednesday and Thursday staying home staying indoors staying off the roads you know we we do plan to close uh city government on Wednesday and Thursday we plan to uh schools plan to close on Wednesday and Thursday I think you're just going to see and and I think we would encourage that uh other businesses and relevant uh you know companies and things in the city do the same thing uh another as the as the mayor mentioned is uh you know minor to moderate coastal flooding uh that does not include areas inside the hurricane and storm damage risk reduction system the levy system um this would be um you know important for the our our neighbors and residents that live out in Venetian ises Lake Catherine and Irish Bou uh we have been speaking with the flood protection authority eastbank and they are not closing some of those higher sill Gates uh including the lakefront uh including out there on Chef Highway and out 90 uh you know we did take that into consideration being uh the bridges being down over Chef pass um but at this point it appears that you will have Fleet free traffic through there um you know I think people out in those areas should exercise caution but what we were seeing was 2 to four feet of coastal flooding that's uh not outside um that's not concerning for us we've we see that out there during some wind events just uh any time of year uh again isolated uh tornado activity is always possible in this in these types of events so that's something that we want to uh you know make sure everybody pays attention to and you know strong winds uh 39 to 54 M an hour maybe even some higher gusts you know one of the one of the things that we're seeing about this and and that we've asked about is that this is moving uh it's it's a little slow right now but as it gets gathers Steam and moves up towards the uh towards us here in the in the Northwestern Gulf or Northeastern Gulf I'm sorry um it's going to move pretty fast and and we anticipate this this is going to move through the area relatively quickly they're not seeing signs of any kind of stalling uh with that you know we may start getting some outer bands tomorrow night so my encouragement for the public is uh as as step two you know one is enacting your plan step two finish gathering your supplies today and tomorrow we think you've got a pretty good opportunity of window to get what you need just to make sure you're good through Thursday or Friday uh tonight and and moving into tomorrow during the day we have just initially because this is obviously a dynamic situation reached out to the council they've been a a great help to us in the past with distribution of the material for sandbags we are going to uh work on having that tomorrow at some point during the afternoon probably from around noon to 4: don't quote me on it just yet we we will make sure and pump that out uh but we're going to work with our council members in the districts to find the best location to drop the sand uh it will be you know uh come and and uh and get your sandbags you know there'll be a limit probably five usually we do five to six sandbags per car load and uh you can come and do that to either protect your property protect your front door uh and the like so more will come on that and then finally as the mayor talked about as well it's really important at this point that you stay connected and you can do that by uh signing up for Nola ready alerts you can either do it online at ready.nola.gov where you can also find out about you know preparedness tips for hurricanes and flooding and and all those things that we work uh year round to work on here in the city and then you can also sign up by Tech short code by texting Nola ready one word to 77295 uh if you'd like those alerts in Spanish you can text ESP to 77295 and receive those alerts in Spanish a lot a lot of what we'll be uh putting out there will be reposts from the National Weather Service as these warnings and watches come out we are under a tropical storm watch right now for the area and also a storm surge watch for the area but again I would say that that does not include areas inside the levy system um with that uh please follow us on social media at noar and just stay connected um consider Wednesday and Thursday days to stay home um get your supplies together and we're going to see on the other side of this and everything's going to be fine so uh we got a great team working here uh with that I'll turn it over to Nathaniel Fields who is our director of homeless services and strategies thank you thank you Colin thank you thank you everyone uh we have all all of our Outreach team out right now on standby uh we have a strategy to be able to move individuals from the streets to the shelters as needed we are also doing coordinated efforts with the offices of Community Development and the health department to make sure folks have all their acute care needs taken care of we're also working with sbca to make sure that all animals um who are going into the shelter location are taken care of uh Nord has also opened up additional sites for us to be able to start getting individuals into those locations starting at 4M on tomorrow um we will get additional resources through RTA to be able to help and Encompass all of this that we need to do for tomorrow and we're hoping that we can continue to reach out to all of our Hospital Partners to be able to help the individuals as well get to the shelter locations and be able to be safe during this uh tragic time period but we believe that we have a plan to be able to help all the individuals that we're going to come in contact with so U with that I'll pass it back over to you m May thank you thank you very much uh Nate for that and we have been in contact with our living facilities nursing facilities and the like and so that will continue to move forward again focusing on our most vulnerable population uh of people no doubt about it uh at this time I would like to ask I have uh New Orleans City Council Members to come forward you all can do so and then I will have Chief samron come after you so um representative thank you thank you all um I'm only here to announce where the sandbagging will happen for district B and that will be at the dryads YMCA so drad's YMCA starting around 11:00 uh going till 3: I'll be there with some of my staff um I believe uh council member Morel staff will be there with us as well so come pick up your sandbags uh we will be there the other thing I'd like to say is to make sure that you as the mayor said check on your neighbors make sure they're safe and also make sure that your pets are inside during this weather event so thank you for all that thank you so much uh councilwoman and we'll keep that going uh councilman green thank you madam mayor and because of your team that you've put together along with this city council I'm very confident in our citizens ability to adjust to what's going to happen um during this week during these coming days I will announce on later on this evening our sandbag locations but we will be Distributing sandbags the only thing that I want to say is only because it hasn't been mentioned and look it may be mentioned by someone that's on their um calendar I just want to remind folks to use generators correctly to keep them far enough away from your home um and from your living space so that you're not affected by carbon dioxide I also want to encourage our citizens to and if vgy was coming up I do give deference to them to avoid any power lines that are down take it very seriously when you see a wire and for our citizens to pray for the best but prepare for the worst make sure that you've adjusted make sure that you have sufficient water if you have a generator that it's ready to go that you have the gasoline that meets those needs um a lot of large cities including Houston there citizens weren't prepared for Hurricane Barrel as they should have been New Orleans are going to be prepared we've experienced experienced it often but I just encourage us to pray for the best and just prepare as if the worst is going to happen if the worst doesn't happen then we'll be all better off because of it and thank you Madame mayor for this opportunity thank you thank you so much councilman and councilman Thomas U well first of all thank you madam mayor and your team we've uh been down this road uh many times before just a couple of observations uh uh based on experience uh being being on top of my house during Betsy uh living in the shelter after that uh being on the boats during Katrina uh the only one here who was here uh every day uh when Colin mentioned translation that's extremely important the first couple officer Wilbert Theodore and I rescued uh was a hispan Hispanic couple that was traveling going home to Florida uh when we got to them they were trapped between the containers that had blown on the interstate and the Water by the time we got to them uh the lady was uh two years pregnant that's how pregnant she was uh we had to rescue her and deliver her to the Superdome Madame mayor where she had her baby they didn't speak any English at all uh so for the people in the news and folk who translation uh is extremely important uh looking at the models whether it was a hurricane P Pam slm model other old uh models that Nash Roberts used to use the thing that concerns me about this uh Chief is the uh dirty side of the right front quadrant if you're familiar with hurricanes it's been predicted that if that side hits uh it could potentially uh be the worst possible income in terms of where the water goes and how it affects our CBD uh in some of our most uh populated areas but the but the good thing about this is that we don't need a new playbook uh and the the the hope is that we take a look at those things that went right over the years uh those things that went wrong but I think it was a little to confucious who wrote that nature doesn't have to insist she can pretty much do what she want so uh let's be prepared absolutely thank you councilman and when we talk about uh getting people the services that they needed in real time I'm going to ask my chief samron chief of EMS to come forth and then we're going to hear from Carl from 911 311 at this time Chief Samurai yeah thank you Madame mayor uh New Orleans EMS uh stands prepared for Francine we we take uh a lot of time every hurricane season to get our staff and resources ready and those remain ready uh throughout the hurricane season and right now we're going to activate our tropical weather plan and we'll have additional resources such as ambulances high water units on duty throughout the duration of the storm we ask that you take time now to be ready and stay tuned for important updates uh there's a lot of resources out there for you to get information uh rather that be a local news Outlet or even the city so please make sure you stay informed everyone should take time to do your precautions now uh cuz we're going to be Sheltering in place so make sure you get everything ready all of your supplies uh right now is the time to do that especially if you're elderly have medical problems mobility issues require electricity for medical devices or need regular medical treatment such as dialysis so before things start closing down contact your medical provider and see what resources might be available for you uh and make sure you get all that done before doctor's offices hospitals treatment centers close make sure you have that information now so make sure you contact your medical providers to get that I'm sure you'll hear from uh the fire department and others about using caution especially with flooded roadways uh debris down power lines uh you know the leading cause of death uh in storms is storm surge and people driving through storm surge so definitely if you see a flooded roadway an underpass uh whatever it is please do not try to drive through it those should be closed off and if they're not just use common sense and don't drive through it uh also use common with you you know just use common sense with down power lines and so forth definitely be careful um After the Storm if we are impacted in that way uh be very very careful with what you do also remember that uh New Orleans EMS does modify our response to calls for service during high winds so help may be delayed if you have a lower Acuity or non-emergency call so please remember that if you need help with a non-emergency need please call 311 or the non-emergency number 504 4821 2222 please reserve 911 for emergencies only for police fire and EMS emergencies at 911 be sure to register for alerts as you were already told uh from Nola ready by texting Nola ready to 77295 or go to ready.nola.gov we have a lot of resources available for you um to get information and stay informed so please do that um so let's get ready and all stay safe thank you you thank you very much thank you Chief I'm going to ask our executive director of 911 311 opcd thank you Mr car thank you ma'am 911 has never been in a better place than it is today for handling for being able to support our citizens with the AT&T EET with the carbine cloud-based 911 telepan system the the odds of having any problems with it are slim to none knock on wood just to be sure but the problems that existed during Ida when we lost 911 for almost 12 hours are no no longer in existence I will say if you need to call 911 please stay on the line if you accidentally call 911 stay on the line until one of my staff people talks to you your call will be answered in the order it was received also if it's not a life-threatening emergency if it doesn't require an immediate response please call 311 or 504 8212 222 we want want to reserve the 911 lines for those who need immediate assistance other than that be careful who you trust your information we have broadcast media we have Nola ready we have other reliable sources of information I'm sure everyone's seen the assorted internet sites that pop up trying to raise Havoc trying to raise Panic don't trust them trust the same people you've been getting reliable information from through all the years the city no LA are broadcasting print media and their online presence thank you thank you Carl very much and so now we know that we have a lot of infrastructure uh work Investments that are happening all around the city and with that comes with us being not only prepared to button ourselves up and prepare for what comes our way I'm going to ask director of DPW to come forth Rick hathway please thank you madam mayor uh DPW is on standby preparing for the event we have Crews working today cleaning catch basins and drain pipe across the city sand will be delivered tomorrow at the designated sites including the DRS YMCA DPW is working with our partners at the department of sanitation and the department of parks and Parkway uh preparing for debris removal After the Storm contractors as you know all across the city we have construction sites that are active they are presently working to secure their job J sites including the temporary traffic uh control materials and equipment I would also like to add that gutter buddies are used across the uh job sites in order to prevent debris and silt from entering the system the gutter buddies or uh catch Bas and protection are designed to PR to allow water to flow over the top of the uh product and the lower portion prevents the debris and sealed from entering the system uh we'd like to keep these things in place and we ask our residents to leave them uh where they are thank you thank you Rick very much and we're going to keep it going I'm asking our general superintendent of the sewage and water board New Orleans Steve Nelson please come forward thank you Madame mayor we are prepared at the SE and water board to respond to this event personnel and Equipment has been staged backup gener generators trucks and other equipment has been fueled and will be ready for use we also require 44 megaw of power to power our 25 htz pumps we currently have 70 megaw available including power from turbin 4 turbine 5 turbine 6 all five of our emds those are electromotive diesels and our frequency Changers turban 5 is currently online and operating turbine 4 is available as is turban 6 90 of our 99 major drainage pumps are also available the St status of those pumps as well as power can be viewed real time at swbno.org including the operation of our pump stations during the event in real time if folks see a leak if you see a water leak or have a sewer issue please call 504527 in advance of the of the rain as that will help water flow down the pipes and to our canals and pumps thank you very much thank you and I'm going to now turn to our partner uh Dianna Rodriguez president CEO of Intergy New Orleans thank you mayor thank you and I appreciate everybody here I also want to thank our partners for preparing in advance as we do we drill with many of the partners here and are prepared um I want to stress and thank you council member green for mentioning safety is of utmost important not just for for um the customers which is everybody in in the New Orleans area but also for our workers so as the storm comes through note that we cannot go out and send Folks up in bucket trucks with any wind that is over 40 miles per hour and Colin mentioned the level of wind that we're expecting we have to wait and we will be able to send out people as soon as possible the other thing to note is generator safety that was also mentioned often people are harmed not because of the storm itself but because they misuse or mishandle the generators that's very important that people keep that in mind and then we also ask that um if you have an outage let us know you can we encourage everyone to download the Entergy app on your cell phone keep your cell phones charged you can use the to report outages and check on the status of power at your home or business you can visit our Storm Center Online at www entg newsom.com andtor Center um again please stay safe our our lives uh and that means everyone everyone as part of the city uh is are depend on how we react to a storm we will all be careful and we hope that you do too thank you thank you very much well we know that we definitely are stronger uh together and I thank everyone uh for being here but leaning in to ensure that not only we're prepared that we're making sure that the city our residents and visitors are as well uh with that I want to ask Kelly Schult to come forward uh with the she's the communications director for New Orleans and Company please come thank you good afternoon um you all know how important our tourism industry is to our city our message to the visitors has been remain Vigilant keep an eye on the weather but we have stressed that we are prepared everyone in this room New Orleans and Company we know how to handle situations like this we are very well uh battle tested and prepared and they should take great comfort in that fact um we are also communicating to them that uh we do have about 25 groups in town this week about 14,000 to 16,000 people um overnight with us for the next three night and we have communicated to them that um follow the advice of officials shelter in place check with their Airline or their hotel should they have any changes um but the main message we want people to know is that we're prepared we're going to be okay and if you are bringing a convention or an event or planning a trip here for next week next month next year you're going to be okay thank you good job good job um before we bring it to a close anyone else cheat you needed you want us to come on come on cuz I've been reading i' been reading your energy come on up here it actually just that chair it's the chair sitting that chair the energy me uh just real quick the the New Orleans fire department is prepared and and and we're ready and I didn't have much to say but uh actually council member Thomas talked about remembering the past and learning from the past and using it to prepare one thing we want to remember uh when we talk about generators like enery said carbon monoxide detectors right the the laws have changed right we remember hurricane IA and the issues with carbon monoxide post hurricane Iota uh throughout the metro area the state laws have changed everyone is required to have a carbon monoxide detector in their homes right now but not everyone may have updated them yet so if you have a portable generator if you're thinking about picking up a portable generator also pick up a battery powered carbon monoxide smoke alarm or a hardwired uh as the case may be in your home but just keep that in mind as you're out there doing your preparations thank you no thank you Chief so thank you all again very much um please uh you will get updated information of course from the City of New Orleans uh as we continue to take steps to prepare uh the locations of sandbags you'll get a full list and thank you council member we know drets will be one of them but many more to come and particularly covering uh the East Bank as well as the West Bank uh look out for one another no doubt about it and that also means our pets uh in the community as well uh with that uh Mr Terry yes ma'am our press conference concluded as I will you oning any other further questions Security will be available for those and myself and with that we will be back and tou with you next okay thank you very much thank you thank you kle thank you