Carolina dealing with heavy rain and winds from Hurricane Ian. A News Conference with the state emergency officials to brief residents on response efforts. [background noises] [laughter] thank you very much we have only may signing again. Psalm 37 verse 23 and 24. The lord directs the steps of the godly. He directs delights in every detail so stumble, they will never fall but the lord holds them by the hand. Let us pray. Gracious heavenly father, we know you are with us in both the home and the storm. Even when disciples began to fear, jesus showed he was lord over the waters. We ask you would call him the wind and waters of the approaching hurricane and sparrows in the past from. Open hearts in love and generosity to all who need help in the coming days. All things at all times remember even when life seems dark and stormy, the boat with us guiding to safety your most holy name we pray, amen. Okay, children from the National Weather service. And landfall is imminent along the county coast as of the Hurricane Centers advisory, ian was have category one hurricane 85mile an hour winds and we should get an update on his position in the next hour or so. The impacts are already ongoing across the state. Peak wind gusts as afternoon reached 83 miles an hour at work center, 73 miles an hour at folly beach. 68 miles an hour at myrtle in the, 58 miles an hour at charleston airport, 55 miles an hour georgetown and 53 miles an hour at north beach. The strongest winds will occur this evening across the northern tricounty area through the grand strand and pd with areas along the coast near ians landfall potentially seen when guests 80 to 90 miles an hour and 50 to 70 miles an hour in the along the track. Tropical Storm Force Winds will extend west to the midlands. The wind down power lines across the state report should become more widespread as the end comes in the end winds develop. Storm surge flooding is ongoing across the South Carolina coast with inundation in coastal communities especially along central and northern portions of the coast. Four to 7 feet of inundation expected to north palms with lower values south of there are generally two to 4 feet. Storm surge flooding from the most problematic to mid afternoon but could linger through the evening. In and around georgetown, pollys island, garden city, litchfield cherry growth will be most affected. Storm surge will occur along the oceanfront, cultural roadways could temporarily come impassable. Any claim ongoing with many flash flood awnings right now that tricounty area, flooding that will continue into the evening especially rainfall rates we are seeing with ian. Runs reminder, turnaround dont drown. Is an increasing threat of isolated tornadoes mainly in the northeast part of the state where tornado watches have been issued. It should improve across the state tonight ian weakens to the north, seek Higher Ground along the coast and do not drive through flooded roadways. We will answer questions as we go through. As i speak, the center of Hurricane Ian is in the coast of South Carolina just above charleston mainly from the bay through myrtle beach. I spoke to a number of mayors in those areas and they are well prepared. The grandstand particularly right now seeing rough seas. Behind the grand strand the water is backing up cant get out behind the beaches and creeks, this is not as bad as it could have been. A lot of players have been answered but dont quit yet because it is still coming. We are not out of the woods. I remind people as john just said, water on the roads, we seen photographs of it, people have been sending us, the mayors and others, it is still very dangerous and winds even where theres not much water in other parts of the state so if you dont need to go outside in the wind, stay inside. If you dont need to drive and get wet, dont drive. Be careful and be smart. So far, fortunately no deaths have been reported as a result of the storm but theres still lifethreatening conditions and we need to continue to be very careful. In charleston, according to the mayor a little while ago they have to 12 inches of water in the hospital district, much less than expected, a wall around the battery was not overrun with water. That is very good news. High tide in myrtle beach was about 12 30 p. M. So we know the law is high and the winds are high water is trapped in this and you cant get out because of the winds and currents. Right now when the storms seem to be receding in the state and moving on to others at hurricane speeds, this is when people normally get careless, hurt and often lose their lives so dont get human error is the deadliest thing we have, misjudgment, regulations, carelessness so be careful and be smart. I spoke to President Biden this morning, hes fully aware of our situation. He promised whatever help we needed and of course hes been here before and says South Carolina is a beautiful place and of course i agreed one 100 of the. That is the situation so far we have a number of people to speak and provide details, general jeff jones. Thank you, the deputy general, right now South Carolina military department comprises army guardsmen, air guardsmen and state guardsmen and civilian employees, they are poised to continue to respond to state and local partners the people of South Carolina. Currently we have 90 guardsmen on active duty positioned forward primarily performing high water vehicle support and we are poised and prepared to shift operations in response to any request to any mission statewide. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you, director of South CarolinaManagement Division from of the state Emergency Operations center is currently operating condition one. This is the highest level of Alert Response and we are fully staffed, state agencies and voluntary organizations 24 hours a day until this of it curtailed. Right now priorities include support to counties and responded to transportation children, supply and equipment missions we are also planning Damage Assessment and recovery operations. We continue to work closely with local authorities to share information and identify unmet needs. We received only a few requests for support but they include high water vehicles, swift water rescue teams and support. Near term we expect to receive additional requests for debris management assistance, generators Damage Assessment. Damages have been white with reports of trees and localized flooding mostly along the coast but we expect that to build in the afternoon. The governor mentioned talking to President Biden in last night received federal Emergency Declaration which will allow us to seek reimbursement response across in any direct federal assistance we might request. The Emergency Declaration is not the same as a major disaster declaration which would request after the completion of Damage Assessment we do and provincially provide structure and repairs and assistance to individuals and families so Emergency Declaration is limited but does give us some advantage. As the storm moved through South Carolina residents should keep in mind a couple key points. Stay tuned to local television and radio stations for emergency information. Say inside well constructed billings limit nonemergency calls to keep the grid open and use Text Messages if you have nonemergency calls. Citizens can use the website South CarolinaEmergency Management cap on your phone to keep uptodate on disaster information and we encourage citizens who have received damages to report damage to the app. Damage assessment report is on the tools section of the main menu so its easy to get to, i checked it out last night. Thank you, governor. Around 10 30 a. M. , statewide we had outages around 32900 and 27. Around 12 25 p. M. Today we are already over 69000. I anticipate the outage numbers will climb. Crews are sitting at the ready and able to restoration efforts but only when safe to do so, so when the winds get 30 miles an hour, the crews out there will pause. Her customers who currently have power, because i expect numbers to climb, take a moment to charge your phone and do the things you need to while you still have power. For those expanding an outage, notifying your utility so they are aware if you are out and about, stay away from downed power lines. If you have a customer complaint contact or f tollfree at 189221531. That concludes my report. Thank you. Secretary of transportation, we currently have more than 2100 employees working this event. As of now we have respondents to 200 trees that have been removed. They are going to clear the roadway and enable utility works to get back in to do their work they need to. We will do that as the storm passes. We are aware of water on the roadways across the state, currently no major closures we are aware of. We are closely watching local officials in areas john mentioned, more charleston to myrtle beach area. As mentioned earlier, we urge people to avoid travel if possible today as the storm works its way through the state. Thank you, governor. We stand ready at this time for citizens who may have damage or some need for assistance from the hurricane. We help shortterm problems and longterm problems and we are here until we take care of the problems for you. We are here to assist the governor and help citizens and provide information you may need in the short or longterm. Thank you. Emily, director of the department of labor licensing regulation. The agency through its Division Fire has been prepared third search and rescue efforts be needed. Earlier this week we mobilized has forced one with water rescue capability of the state fire campus here in columbia so we were prepared to back search and rescue teams located in charleston, hilton head and myrtle beach. Last night North Charleston requested both teams so we did deploy has forced once and arrived at about 10 00 p. M. Last night. Have filled teams by requesting the teams through firefighter mobilization Anderson County answered the call and they are here in columbia ready to deploy if needed. The state fire marshal continues to make contact with the fire chief along the coast to make sure they do not have unmet needs. We appreciate First Responders who volunteer and stand ready to ensure South Carolina is prepared if certain rescue is necessary and remind viewers find yourself an emergency situation needing assistance to dial 911. Thank you governor, good afternoon. Currently we have five shelters open across the state, general population shelters, two in charles county, one in Jasper County and one in orange and one in williamsburg. As of noon we have total population of 119 individuals in shelters. Current total capacity is 759 so about 15 of that capacity. All locations are resourced, staff, red cross volunteers, Law Enforcement and other volunteer organizations are plenty aged in that mission and their zero medical needs shelters open and we recommend that anyone who needs a shelter to bring blankets, sleeping bags, litigation and personal hygiene or personal items or special foods if youre on restricted diet and childrens information can be found on red cross. Org or contact your local Emergency Management. Thank you. Director rob would open to Public Safety. I am rob woods structure from the department of Public Safety beginning yesterday we deployed Law Enforcement officers from the state throughout South Carolina in anticipation of higher calls for service on u. S. Highways, interstates and highways throughout the state, we have seen an uptick for Service Starting last night, over 90 calls for service from 6 00 p. M. Until 6 00 a. M. And currently over 131 calls from service 6 00 a. M. To noon today and they were primarily in assisting. We have over 300 Law Enforcement officers in the department safety, d and are patrolling the highways we will have folks out there with the expectations of calls for service and continue to increase as the storm moved ashore. To echo advice by secretary whole, given what we see with increased calls for service, increase traffic incidents, stay off the roadways. Thank you, governor. Good afternoon. Health and environmental control. We have been working closely with healthcare facilities, drinking and wastewater facilities to ensure they are ready, we are confident they are ready and prepared to weather the storm successfully but we have teams ready to deploy at a moments notice if we have any problems. The most important is the storm passing through safe as the governor said weve had no one die and want to keep that going, we dont want anyone seriously injured in the storm. We need folks to make good decisions. Stay indoors and if the winds are blowing hard, be away from windows. Stay out of floodwaters. The floodwaters only have a risk of drowning and have bacteria and toxic substances. If somehow you end up in the floodwater, as soon as you possibly can, rinse off and get fresh clothes on and that will help protect you. Be careful with Carbon Monoxide, people may be using generators make sure the generator is outside, printed outside so you dont have Carbon Monoxide which is odorless and colorless, you will never know its there but it will kill you will be careful. Never add fuel to a hot generator because it can cause an explosion. All beds are currently close to harvesting in the state because of the toxic potential of the water so do not harvest shellfish right now and sometimes when we have flooding this and have coffins float to the surface, i know that doesnt sound pleasant but if you find them, call us and we will help manage that and get it taken care of. The number is 803 622 7259. I would note many Emergency Medical Services the storm is coming in along the coast no longer able to operate safely so if you call for help you may not be responded to readily. Weve checked all hospitals are open, Emergency Departments are open. If you need emergency assistance, thats where you should go because medical clinics are closed especially along the coast. If you have questions as the storm passes about things like mold, your private well, food in your refrigerator if your power has gone out and when is it safe . Go to fc de hvc. Gov. We have information about those topics and hotline numbers you can call for things like mold and those sorts of issues. South carolina is great because we take care of each other. If we have a neighbor, friend able to take care of themselves, check on them when it safe and make sure they are okay and provide assistance they need. Working together we will be safe and get through this successfully. Thank you. I am mark, all of our personnel have been on standby since day before yesterday we began assisting the highway patrol, major highways, major roadways and restarted out 3 00 p. M. Yesterday and will continue until after the storm. There are areas of the state when he to transition into our Security Missions the request to do that. Ive been in contact with sheriffs along the coastal this morning as well as. We will continue to talk with them and communicate and if they have any needs, we will assist them with Security Missions. Are there any questions . Are you recommending a certain time when people leave their structures . We prefer the wind be gone but we will provide that information and will have another press conference. This is something people need to use their own judgment if it is dangerous outside, you should not go. The windsor high and they can blow projectiles, you can get struck by a projectile in order on the roads can be very dangerous particularly when theres water in ditches so we want people to use common sense. Stay tuned to the channels, we dont know exactly how the water will flow or how deep it will be in various places and there may be flooding we havent seen yet as the water makes its way down toward the coast. How could you describe working with the Biden Administration while preparing . They have been helpful and cooperative. When we all know theres a hurricane, there are no politics involved. Everybody agrees we want to keep everyone safe and protect help people recover as well. From charleston all the way up to myrtle beach as the tide is currently at high tide so as the tide is there and the waters coming at the same time there will be elevated water levels across some of the roads. We areseeing that today and of course it will take time for that water to recede. But as soon as it receives we are prepared to go in with prepositioned assets to go in and clear any sand or debris or anything that may be blocking those roads immediately. Question for the director, with the calls for service, are you concentrating in any certain areas right now . What were experiencing at the coast, thats where were seeing the highest increase. Were seeing mostly in the coastal areas where the storms impact. With conditions the way they are now does that suggest there could be Severe Weather impacts, things of that nature. Were going to leave this