Flood Watch warnings sparks storm prep

Caldwell County crews are preparing for any possible weather threats.

A “flash flood watch” has been issued in Caldwell County until Saturday evening. “Plan for these things, it makes it a lot easier and safer for everybody,” said Carine Chalfoun the Caldwell County interim emergency management coordinator. 

What concerns officials in Caldwell County is the fact that they’ve rain almost every day this week so the ground is very saturated, so more water from rain can have a hard time being absorbed into the ground and you have the potential for flooding.

“We have literally have gone from a burn ban to a flood watch and it’s been a little bit crazy,” said Chalfoun. She spent the day traveling across the area. “Making sure that swift water gear is ready, the boats are ready, all the engines are doing good, and that everyone is prepared in going out in case we have any issues that come up that we need to deal with,” said Chalfoun.

The county is no stranger to flooding and the devastation it can bring.

Since 2013, they have had 5 federally declared disasters all from flooding. “If you have water on the road way please turn around we do not want to see anybody getting hurt,” said Chalfoun.

Most the members on these rescue crews for the county are volunteers. “These volunteers are professionals and they go through the exact same training that paid departments go through when it comes to swift water rescue, structural fire fighter wild land firefighting,” said Chalfoun. While Chalfoun doesn’t expect anything as severe like in the past, she doesn’t want to take any chances.

The county is urging not only people who live here but people who have plans to travel to the county to following them on social media as they will be active on alerting people to any potential problem areas.