ROBESON COUNTY, NC (WBTW) – Robeson County held a press conference Tuesday morning with officials from several departments to discuss plans for Hurricane Florence.
Robeson County Board of Commissioners Chairman, Raymond Cummings, said the state has been cooperative to the county’s needs.
“With the assets that come in, and the help from other counties and other regions, it’s tremendous,” said Cummings. “With their supports we’ll minimize the effects as much as we can.”
Cummings said the county is in constant communication with each department, and that if the county needs to, it will use school buses to evacuate the area.
“This storm is real, and it’s a real danger, and we want folks to be as safe as possible,” he said.
The chairman said the county has learned lessons from Hurricane Matthew.
“It has taught us to be more on guard for the rain when it comes, and for all that’s needed in these shelters,” he said. “Just managing shelters is a critical point.”
Robeson County Public Information Officer, Emily Jones, said the county will now have four shelters for residents instead of the original two it had planned.
St. Paul’s High School, Lumberton High School, Purnell Swett High School, and Fairmont Middle School will be open to the public on Thursday starting at noon.
Jones said there will be a limited number of cots, but Cummings said he requested more, along with generators, from the state.
Jones said service animals are allowed in the shelters, but the resident must have the certificate that states the animal is a service animal.
Jones said people should make plans with their vet or the Robeson County Animal Shelter to board their pet if they need to evacuate the area.
“If you do have any kind of livestock make sure you put a tag in their mane,” said Jones. “And if you need help getting your animal evacuated after the storm you can contact the county, communications department, and they will get someone to help you evacuate your livestock”
Jones said shelters are not accepting volunteers, but if the public wants to volunteer they should contact the Emergency Operations Center.
