And good morning. It is time to get you prepared for any disaster that comes your way,
except like maybe a phone bill in the mail. It didn't pay anything other than that we're
set for. And my guest are Lorenzo Satos. He's the director of the nursing county office
of emergency management and Liz Adams, who is the deputy emergency management coordinator.
This is part of our Racine County Traffic Safety Commission monthly get together office
Racine County office of emergency management. Now you can check this on the website. I figured
I had to do it. It's Racine County slash safety. Go down to the last one. That's when
we're talking about today. Racine County slash safety. And you should be able to follow
along with us today. Let's start off with the director. Lorenzo. Okay. So what kind
of disasters are we looking at in Racine per se because that's our audience? Yeah.
Morning, Don. So close to that microphone. We want to miss a word. And in Racine, you
know, one of the biggest disasters that we're always looking for since we're close to
a body of water close to the root river is flooding. We want to make sure that we're
always prepared for that. And of course, as we come up on, you know, the fall and winter,
we want to make sure that we are prepared for winter storms. Wisconsin is no stranger
to winter weather. And that's something that we always want to make sure that we're
preparing for here. What happened to winter? I mean, I know tornadoes, hurricanes, I know
earthquakes, so all those kind of things, tsunamis that we don't have tsunamis here.
But you know, I've seen devastation from tsunamis. What winter? What can be the problem?
Yeah, winter can wreak all sorts of havoc. I mean, really one of the biggest things that
you see is obviously traffic flow changes when it becomes winter. You get a lot of snow
that morning commute or even afternoon commute will get a lot tougher to handle. It can
have a huge effect on electricity. You know, a lot of times when we have a blizzard or
a winter storm, all of a sudden the power goes out. So that's going to affect a lot of
people's day, whether it's home or work. So those are, you know, just two general ways
that that a heavy winter storm is going to affect your every day life. You want to see
people panic. And on the ring camera thing, you have a neighborhood thing where people
can type things in. If there's, you know, there's some things suspect them, things
wrong. If there is a blink of the lights, yeah, yeah, panic sets in amongst the neighborhood.
Did your lights blink? My blink, did yours blink? And people, could you imagine having
the lights out for days on end? No electricity? Talk about the panic coming up. Yeah, I mean,
the blink of the lights that's people that can breathe their heart start palpitating.
You guys are kind of young, but do you remember the groundhog day storm we had here 24 inches
of snow in one day? Do you remember that? You guys are kind of young. You don't remember
that? No, no, not here. It takes me 10 to 12 minutes to get here for my home. Yeah.
It took me two and a half hours to get here that morning. And I'm only, I live right here
on Main Street. Oh, wow. And that's how bad it was. It just kept coming down, coming down,
coming down. I got on the road at about three o'clock to three thirty in the morning.
Yeah, yeah. Because I had plenty of time. I couldn't see where the bridge was.
The Main Street bridge. I couldn't see the roads. I couldn't see anything. And I was panicking
because I couldn't see in front of me. I didn't know if I was going to hit the curve, go off the
bridge. I couldn't even go down victory avenue. The snow was so deep. I had a park at wall
greens on highway 20. I talked to the manager. I said, do you mind if I park here? It goes on
pulling over there. And I had a walk here. Nine tenths of a mile. My wife gave me food. I know
she thought I was going to be trapped here. Subcans, a new clothing. But she brought the new clothing,
though. And I had to walk through this blizzard with the snow up to my knees. Nine tenths of a mile.
Where would you guys come in on something like that? Yeah, you know, we want to make sure that
we're getting out is information to the public. We want to make sure that we're telling
it folks what the weather's going to look like. So we work very closely with NWS Milwaukee.
We are always forecasting, you know, previewing what's going to happen and trying to get that
information out and working with first responders. Because they're going to be the folks that are
out there making sure that everyone is safe when people are calling in to dispatch. It's our first
response teams that are going to go out making sure that they're helping everyone. We are those
that the team in the background that is helping out our first responders, making sure that they
have the information that they need and the resources to respond effectively. Let me talk to Liz
for a second here. It says make a plan. How do you make a plan for, well, tornadoes in our case
or even a snowstorm? Or we mentioned earlier that on, I'm talking to you off the air. I thought
it was in connocia. Not how to be seen. A farmer's big tank of not just chemicals spilled and it
was in the air and there were homes nearby. How do you make a plan for something like that? Yeah.
So it's basically it's impossible to plan for everything. So what we try to do is develop
principles and concepts that will be applicable no matter what the emergency. We call this
all hazards planning and do at home. You can also do something similar to this. You don't have to
try to think about every possible emergency. I'm sure most people are not going to be planning for
you know a hazmat release from a farm next door. But if you kind of know where the like a
evacuation route would be in your house or if you know where like the rally point is in your
yard for your family to meet up at that can all be really helpful no matter what the
what the emergency is. How do you plan for a tornado? No, we don't get a lot of them in
we're seeing. I have seen one before when it took the doors off my yards on highway 11 and also
the roof off case and highway 11. How do you prepare for a tornado? Because I mean it'll rip your
house right up the foundations if it hits you directly. Yeah, tornadoes are definitely one of
those hard ones because they can come out and know where they happen very quickly and a lot of
times you get very little warning ahead of times. If you have a basement knowing how
like if you have kids letting them know okay if you hear the tornado sirens go to the basement.
If you don't have a basement identifying a good place in your house to shelter from the tornado
if you're outside generally knowing where to go if there's if you hear the sirens or if you get
the alert that there's a tornado warning imminent. And you can't depend on cell phones because if
there's a storm who knows the cell phone coverage will go out and we know we just got landlines
anymore. So you depend on cell phones. But I think it's important you're meant to mention a rally
point. I mean it's like even if you go out to an amusement park if we get lost we're meeting here
by the carousel you got to have a rally point because we're going to look for people. I think
that's really important that to be number one on your list. You know here's where we're going to
meet if there's if there's an emergency. Let's talk about the sirens because we're very lucky
or I can hear them blasting Saturdays at 4 p.m. Or is it new no 4 p.m. I mean they blast them
test them one one of those hours on a Saturday. We're lucky because they're in good shape now.
There are cities that are wiped off the map and they say well our sirens weren't working we
were going to get new ones to lay now. Sure. Yeah. So we're very lucky. So who's in charge of the
sirens who tested blast those out. Well often it comes down to individual municipalities. What I
will say is you know we get a lot of calls people ask hey you know we we could not hear the siren
a lot of times you're not going to hear it if you're inside maybe sometimes depending on if you
have music up loud you're not going to hear it. So one of the things that I would say is one of
the best things that you have in your toolbox to have that preparedness and have that situational
awareness of storms is get yourself a NOAA radio weather radio those are very important
they're very loud if there are any kind of storms any kind of alerts that come through
you're absolutely going to hear it and it's it's going to be one of the best things that
you can have available to make sure that you get that information in a timely manner.
Okay so that's important get yourself a NOAA weather radio make sure it works on batteries
because yeah it's not going to help you a bunch of the electric set and most of them do I have
one at home and most of them do and it's tuned to a local frequency and they'll let you know
immediately if there's severe weather on the way I could be severe thunderstorms I mean those
wreak havoc I know that. So we have tornadoes of possibility we have snow what else can happen
here whether you guys are in charge of hearing the recene area that we have to worry not worry
about the concerned about. Yeah I mean as you know we just had some recent flooding we're
close to the river that's one of the most common hazards in the country so we're always
making sure that we look very carefully at that there are you know and people may not know but
there are gauges throughout those waterways there are always measuring those levels we are
keeping track of those and we're always kind of making sure that we're able to work with the
national weather service to forecast what those future trends look like. You know I remember
there was a big flood this is like my grandfather. This is years ago when I was at my first tour of
duty here and I was going on a spring street and it was blocked off it was totally
under the homes had the water over their front porches the river overflowed right yeah and I remember
Lutheran high school had sandbags all around the school but it was too late at that point because
they're right on the river there I mean just things just flooded man you've got to be ready for
something like that and I don't know what you could do if the water is rising that fast
I don't know get a robot I mean I wouldn't know what to do other than you know because get
to come in your house sandbags are only good you know for so long before the water gets up
gets past that what can you do with flooding. I've been running for your lives you know yeah and
and that's a very good point you know we're always making sure that we're getting ahead of the problem
that's the most important thing the more information we get out to the public ahead of time
the more the public is able to take effective and timely actions so we're always watching
get that information out if it gets bad enough we want to you know relocate people to a safer area
because as you said you know we don't want it to get to a point where you know there's nowhere to go
so we're always just making sure that we can get that information out as soon as possible because if
we do need to get people to a safer location that's not inundated that's what we want to do as
quickly as we can. Now it says here on the website build a kit what what kind of kit are we talking
about here. So we're talking about a kit that you can build at home for you and your family there's
some general basic things that are good to have in that kit. Number one is probably water
you want to have a gallon of water for every person in your household and pet for per day
and minimum yeah don't forget don't forget about the pets and you want to have at minimum three days
worth of of water you also want to have some shelf shelf stable food non perishables cans things
like that flashlights batteries I want to have copies of any important documents any prescriptions
that your family might be on and then also you know some comfort items especially if you have
young children or pets as well comfort items can be really important. My teddy bear. Sure yeah.
So you mentioned that have batteries which is really important to have and when my mother moved
up here to recene she'd really need the batteries that much I want she passed away I was
cleaning out a apartment and I found this giant box of batteries a couple of hundred batter now
they were no good anymore but she was ready in Florida if something should happen she went on
bought like bought out the entire store of home depot of their batteries I found the end my mother
was ready yeah she had her weather radios she had the batteries and she was ready to the rock and
rolling case there was something now that was in Florida yeah he or she didn't have
have much of a problem so you can build that kit and you said flashlights important fresh batteries
very important and if you have children you're right bring some of their toys with them because
now people get scared I know I grabbed my teddy bear when I get scared and give it a hug and
and the animals bring food for them yeah water because they don't know they just I'm hungry.
Don't forget don't forget about your your furry family members as well and maybe a poop bag for
the dog because if you're at a shelter dogs gonna go they don't know so that's good okay preparing
for disasters that's you know we talked briefly about let's talk more about it because it's on
the site here preparing for disasters and the ones we talked about flooding have you snow fall
tornadoes we don't have any hurricanes here in Wisconsin earthquakes now people say we don't
get earthquakes here we did once yeah and I'll tell you how I knew about it we had a parakeet
in the cage and the parakeet went crazy it would go out there and I was banging off the cage
doors and everything panicking so what is going on later that morning there was a small earthquake
that hit with Wisconsin the bird knew it because she he felt it he felt the whatever there was
and he started the panic in the cage that's how I knew we had an earthquake so I mean nobody really
felt it but it can happen I mean who knows right I don't know if we're ready for an earthquake here
I don't know if people know what to do I mean are we ready for that in case there is one
you know we're you know you don't think about that that's that's a good question we're
planning for all hazards that's something that doesn't necessarily reach our exercises as much
but you want to make sure that you have a plan you want to make sure that you know to you know
get under your desk get to get to a place that is structurally sound that if that building did collapse
you know you would have the greatest of plants of survivability it's something that I feel good
coming to work this morning I don't feel like good anymore but the good news is you know there's
a lower chance of that but you always do want to at least think about it and have that in your
toolkit in case that does happen I'll tell you something nobody thinks about until it's an
emergency and I at least to live in brown deer you know there's no earth in Milwaukee and we had a
big flood big rain nine inches in just a few hours and the interstate I 43 was underwater we
saw cars you know underwater which is gas and oil bubbling up through the water as a matter was
yeah and it was we don't have sidewalks in brown deer so the water just went up my front lawn
and the sump pump couldn't handle it now my house was lower than the rest all that water came here
so I ran out the mnards it was pouring rain and as soon as they opened the doors I ran to the
sump pump department and I grabbed anyone I can find and I stuck it next to the other one in the
hole to get the water out of the house yeah people don't think about sump pumps yep because you
don't use in that often and like anything else you don't use it you lose it so I would test my
sump pump every once in a while yeah make sure that motor is running in there because when you have a
flood that could be your best friend I told my daughter I said get a knife and we cut a hole through
the screen and I put the hose through the window to get out to the street just and went through the
water out of my house yeah it was just coming in really fast and we had somebody here Jane
Matt mayor who works on our other station here she had water and her basement and
early in Grim said he had four and a half feet of water in his basement yeah yeah now I don't
know how for sump pump can keep up with that but at least you know it'll get something added yeah
okay uh teach youth about preparedness do you think young people really know or care about
this kind of stuff oh yeah yeah you do think they do our youth are some of the you know our greatest
assets uh they're very good at you know learning these things and in a crisis you you'd be surprised
just how well our young folks are out there performing really and it's scouts how a huge history
of being a part of emergency preparedness of community emergency response teams so we're very proud
of uh working with our youth and and they're very smart when they come up to us during the fair
and we ask them questions we have the wheel of disaster you know they they generally know what
they're talking about wheel of disaster I know with the sound of that we offer trivia questions
for candy at the fair and it's always a hit and it sounds ominous do you remember any I know I'm
putting you on the spot here but you remember I think let's see well it's something like uh where
is the best place in your house to go in a tornado would be one of my questions it's either the
bathroom in the bathtub or in a door frame what am I close yeah you want to you want to go to your
basement that's the number one basement if you have a basement but what if the bathtub is in the
basement that's good that's good that'll also be a good opportunity to try to go to the basement
because the top of the house will blow away or you don't have a basement a lot of people you know
maybe don't have basement so I had to bring up stories like this but you know where Barnabelle is
Barnabelle to Wisconsin it's not highway 18 toward Madison and it must have been in the late 70s
because I was living in Atlanta when it happened and a series of tornadoes went through Barnabelle
in the middle of the night when people were sleeping yeah and every single house except three
were destroyed every house yeah if they were if you go there today all the houses are modern
except three of them and if you go to the bank in the center of town you could see where half the
bank was were not that because you see the new bricks yeah where they where they fixed it we both
so I went out there and I went to a diner and I wanted to ask about it because I was curious
and I was at least be are they sensitive about it I brought it up and everybody wanted to talk
about it the guy at the register was a volunteer fireman he said happened four in the morning
and there were no sirens everybody was sleeping they weren't ready for it but then they heard
the destruction and everybody panicked because you know you're sleeping in the middle of the night
obviously you don't know what can't see them it's pitch dark outside and every home except three
were just knocked out their foundations nobody died but they were people heard yeah and if you go
there today when I was watching the CBS evening news in Atlanta Dan Rather was talking and they showed
the Barnabelle water tower that was all that was standing and you could see it when you go by today
the Barnabelle water tower and I look at it and every time I go through there to get to Madison
I stopped by the town and they used to have a big diorama right in the middle of town they were
pictures before and after I mean that's not that they're proud of it but it was an historical
thing Barnabelle being wiped off the face of the earth and they rebuilt it is something to be proud
they rebuilt you can see every house is modern you know they were built in the 1980s where you
got three of them were built built about a hundred years ago and it's very obvious so those
houses weren't hit but the bank was half of the building was just knocked of what knocked away
you can see where it was rebuilt but the diorama was right in front of the banks you can
compare old with new right but that goes to show you I mean you can get really hurt let's quick
review here we talked about making a plan everybody you know people put that well we'll do that
tomorrow no do it today yes yeah do it today just tomorrow maybe too late make a plan you can make
a plan for fire what if there was a fire in the house what if you know something happened outside
I mean make a plan what are you going to do where are you going to meet you know
build a kit and when you decided the kit includes maybe some food bottle water
because you don't know if the water is going to be out I mean electricity's out sometimes water
goes out with it build a kit including water and if you have children bring some of their toys in
there you have pets bring pet food because pets want to eat they don't know there's a tornado out
there so build the kit and keep it a play I guess you have to keep in the place where you can grab it
yes yeah real quick you see you know forget about it build a kit prepare for disasters and we
talk to that Noah weather radios yeah one of those and you don't have to be panicky about it
just keep it around make putting the kitchen or something or in your bedroom and just keep it
up you know there so when there is a weather emergency you can turn it on because people say
while I watch it on TV or listen on radio but if you're radio or TV is an electric
right you're in trouble that most radios are it but if you if you do and a teacher youth
about preparedness teach your kids and don't put it off if you put it off you're never going to do it
and you say there are scouting troops and so forth oh yeah preparing on this yes you get your
wheel of disaster and I want the sound of that and just be ready for this stuff that's
mean it's going to happen but it's nice to know that you won't be in a panic if it happens
and how I'm scared I'm going to look it's raining outside let me see if it's still
hey you never know when I think of tornadoes I think of the Wizard of Oz when that lady is in the
rocking chair waving a dart or you got the movie Twister you've seen that right and the cows
going flying by there I mean these things are scary yeah pushing that movie looks so realistic
in Twister in Wizard of Oz you know then looks so so real okay Lorenzo Santos who's the director
of the received county office of emergency management Liz Adams is the deputy director
and the coordination of the emergency management and many people get work in there it's a two person
office and we have we have two part times and we have a volunteer do you have times you cannot take
vacations yeah sure during our tornado season and if there's something major going on it's all
hands on deck and if there's you know something that's predicted you know we've got to be ready
ready to spring and act now this is Lorenzo I got a mic time by hand on the beach of Jamaica
but I think people are having some problems they say here's what we're going to do
my son got us I figured what the occasion was he brought us it kind of said knapsack full of
all this food that will never go bad for like a hundred years oh nice I'm not going to eat that
stop for me to I don't any any food past them few months I'm not going to eat but he got this
because he'll what if there's an emergency he just takes this knapsack but I think he was talking
on world dominationism but it you know it wasn't that bad an idea that this knapsack full of food
that you can eat you know the emergency because you know who knows do you think about emptying
the fridge I still have it I guess it's okay you gave it to us you know 75 years ago so I guess
it's up no I have to take a look at it but it wasn't that horrible an idea to do something like that
yeah right so you're waking up right now you said why miss the beginning of this what do I do
it'll be podcast tomorrow morning on at wrjn.com Spotify Apple podcast wherever you get your
podcast you'll be able to hear it so Liz Adams and Lorenzo Santos thank you for coming in I want
to thank Tom Knitter for sending this up he's from the Racine County Traffic Safety Commission
and I'm kind of nervous now I felt good coming in this morning and now I'm kind of like maybe
I should get that food tested plan and then you'll be you'll be good to go what about those
latter to see people throw out the window you ever see the fire those portable ladders I would never
get on one of those I had to pull a whole frame of the window out of that I go crashing down
with it on my head you ever see those ladders yeah yeah they work you think dude but there is a
weight limit I believe I think I'm over the wavelength I think it was over the weight limit when
I was 15 years old fire guys got you they know what they're doing they'll help yeah just wave
your your shirt out I saw I hit the other day and a little kid he got scared the house was on
fire and the fire went to jump and the kid I couldn't understand he didn't want to jump yeah yeah
yeah caught him right in his arms yep well when you're jumping out with that scary yeah I know it is
and the flames are licking your butt in the background you got a choice what are you gonna do
hit the ground or bird thank you guys for coming in this morning thank you I really do and this
is something that's so important and we're glad we do this every month they're from the
Racine County Traffic Safety Commission
