Granville Vance Public Health announced that it will close its offices Thursday at 2 p.m. due to flooding and downed trees from Tropical Storm Debby.
GVPH is scheduled to reopen tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 9, at 10:30 a.m.
As the wind and rain from Tropical Storm Debby continued to pelt the entire WIZS listening area Thursday morning, Duke Energy officials said power outages were limited at that time around Henderson and Vance County.
Duke Spokesman Garrett Poorman reminded customers to think Safety First. There are several ways to report a power outage in your area, but thanks to advances in grid technology, phone calls and text messages aren’t the only ways that the energy company is alerted to outages.
Report outages at www.duke-energy.com, text “OUT” to 57801 or download the Duke Energy app on a mobile device, he said on Thursday’s TownTalk. Of course, customers can dial 800-POWERON (800.769.3766) too, he said.
“The first priority is safety when it comes to storm damage,” Poorman said. That’s for crews and for customers.
Whenever winds are greater than 30 mph, crews are grounded from performing work in bucket trucks, he said.
And a couple of words of advice that bear repeating: if you see a downed power line, just stay away from it.
Even as forecasters were predicting the storm’s path, Duke was assembling 7,500 workers in strategic positions across the Carolinas, poised to fan out to areas affected by the storm’s damaging wind and rain.
Power restoration is a complex process, Poorman said, and Duke is continually upgrading the grid system to be able to automatically detect outages so crews can pinpoint the area that needs repair.
And then there are advances like a “self-healing network,” Poorman said, which works much like a GPS in your car. If there’s a traffic jam ahead, your GPS will likely reroute you to an alternate route. The self-healing network applies the same concept – it reroutes the energy to avoid the damaged lines.
“We’re able to reroute power around the outage,” Poorman said, “that will help us minimize the impact of a storm like this.”
Get updates at www.duke-energy.com.
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Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison and her team maintain a laser focus on community health and providing services that improve residents’ well-being. But there’s a newly formed team within the health department that has the task of tweaking the ways that people in the community learn about the wide scope of services available at the health department.
As a result of that teamwork, the GVPH social media presence is going to have a new look in the next week or so, and Harrison said it’s just one way she and her staff are working to be effective community partners.
“We want to make sure that we’re in lockstep in communicating in our two counties,” Harrison said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny! “Social media is how we do that these days.”
Over the course of the next week or so, they’ll be finishing up the final details before the launch, Harrison said. For those who already follow GVPH on social media, there’s nothing special that needs to be done. The address won’t change, despite the fact that the health department will be using a new hosting site.
And for that younger demographic that prefers Instagram over Facebook, no worries – GVPH has you covered.
“We’re trying to do both and connect them in real time,” Harrison noted.
There are always lots of exciting things happening at the Vance and Granville locations, and it’s important to share them with the public.
Whether it’s a reminder to get a flu shot, the latest COVID-19 booster or any number of other programs the health department offers, Harrison said social media platforms are a way to push that information out.
Visit https://www.gvph.org/ to learn more.
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Due to adverse weather conditions, all Maria Parham Health Physician Practice Clinics closed at 12 noon today, Aug. 8. If you have an appointment scheduled for this afternoon, our team will be reaching out to reschedule as soon as possible.
Good news: The hospital itself is fully operational with no loss of power, so all scheduled surgical procedures will proceed as planned.
Donna Young, the hospital’s marketing and communications coordinator and public information officer, said patients can find the latest information at the Maria Parham Health Facebook page.
Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott has declared a severe weather state of emergency as Tropical Storm Debby continues to bring rain, significant wind gusts and the potential for flash flooding across much of the state.
Although basically a formality, having a state of emergency order in place allows the city to act more quickly if needed to address problems that arise as a result of damage from the storm.
Details are contained within a proclamation issued by Elliott Thursday morning. WIZS News received the information just after 9 a.m.
Information from the National Weather Service that Henderson will experience intense rain and probable flash flooding topped with significant wind gusts over the next 24 to 48 hours as the system makes its way northward.
These extreme conditions have the potential for causing downed trees, power outages, flooding, tornadoes and other damage. Having a state of emergency in place gives municipalities the authority to respond to and mitigate emergency situations that may arise.
Read the full proclamation at https://henderson.nc.gov/
Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.
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Hon. Henry Gupton, clerk of court in Vance County, told WIZS News criminal district court is cancelled 8-8-24.
Gupton said, “Our district court judge has decided to cancel district court today … Let me be clear. Criminal district (court) is cancelled but not civil district.”
— UPDATE 4PM WEDNESDAY
Vance County Schools has announced that due to “severe weather predictions for our region, including high winds, heavy rain, and potential power outages, (Vance public schools) will operate on an early dismissal schedule for Thursday, August 8.”
– EM Rollins STEAM Academy will close at 12:00 PM.
– Vance County High School (VCHS) and Vance County Early College (VCEC) will close at 12:30 PM.
With safety as the top priority, the school system said, “We will continue to closely monitor the weather and its impact on our region. A decision regarding school for Friday, August 9, will be made no later than 3:00 PM on Thursday.”
With the upcoming election just more than three months away, Vance County Republican Party Chairman Jimmy Barrier reminds local residents that although political signs may be placed on private property, campaigners are supposed to wait until 30 days before early voting begins to place signs in public right-of-way spaces. That day for the Nov. 5 election is Thursday, Sept. 5.
“I am pledging that we will continue to follow the rules concerning the placement of signs” Barrier said on Wednesday’s TownTalk. “I just want everyone to play by the rules…as laid out by the state Board of Elections.”
Barrier challenged members of the Democratic Party to do the same, but he said he’s already seen some signs out ahead of the Sept. 5 start date, which Barrier called “blatant violations of the law.”
And although Barrier pledged that members of his party will not remove the offending signs, he said any private citizen is free to do so because the too-early placement of the signs is considered littering, a class 1 misdemeanor.
“We will not damage campaign signs,” Barrier said. “We’re not going to go out there and pull ‘em up – it’s not our job and not what we’re going to do.”
What he and others will do is notify local law enforcement officials including the county Board of Elections, Henderson Police Department, Vance County Sheriff’s Office and district attorney’s office to report violations. Each violation could bring a $50 civil penalty.
“If the signs offend you, people have the right to take them up,” Barrier said, but only from public rights-of-way – NOT from private property where the signs are placed with permission of the property owner.
The city regulates placement of campaign signs and its policies state that they can’t be placed on power poles, in cemeteries or in the grassy triangle northwest of the downtown underpass.
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On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.
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