W.Va. issues state of preparedness ahead of storms

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The National Weather Service is predicting high winds and heavy rain across West Virginia with the potential for power outages and floods.

“Having that heightened awareness makes a big difference,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said.

The governor issued a state of preparedness for all 55 counties on Wednesday, urging agencies to get ready as many are still recovering from historic floods.

“We want people to be on standby because then we can actually act very quickly, and what happened with the last flood is we were prepared, we got out front very, very early,” Morrisey said.

He said every weather event is different. To prepare, teams with Emergency Management, State Police, the Department of Transportation and the National Guard are just some of the agencies on standby.

“We may actually formally organize having emergency management teams come together under the same roof, and you might have someone who’s managing looking at the weather that’s going on. You have someone who’s tracking all the reports coming in from the counties,” Morrisey said.

Depending on the aftermath and severity of the weather, Morrisey said the state is prepared to get involved.

“Sometimes if you have flooding, you’re gonna have high high water. You have to wait for that water to come down before you clear the debris in an area, so there are just steps along the way that you wanna make sure that people are ready to do.”

Morrisey said the western part of the state is expecting heavy rain, and the state of preparedness for all 55 counties lasts until Sunday.

The governor and the state’s Emergency Management Division are asking everyone to follow any instructions from your local officials and stay up to date on conditions.

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