Remnants of Hurricane Ian are heading toward Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
Rain will start falling Friday evening, spreading west overnight, bringing needed rainfall, according to the National Weather Service Office in Morristown.
The amount of rainfall will be substantially less than the amount striking Florida.
“It’ll definitely be less,” said Brandon Waskilewski, NWS forecaster.
Waskilewski said the majority of the rain will fall in North Carolina and Virginia as the storm tracks northward.
He said the total rain in the Tri-Cities could be about 2 to 3 inches.
“That’ll be based on the track,” he said.
Most of the rain will fall Saturday night and into Sunday.
Temperatures will be in the mid-60s, and the lows will be around the mid-50s, milder than normal for this time of year. Winds may be gusty.
Virginia governor takes action
In advance of Ian’s remnants arriving in Virginia on Friday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency for the state to allow for resources and equipment if needed.
The declaration advises residents to prepare for severe rainfall, flooding, wind damage, tornadoes and other storm effects.
Virginia residents are advised to plan for contingencies including moving to a safe place and maintaining contact with family and friends. Information on planning for weather from Ian can be found online: https://www.va emergency.gov/prepare/make-a-plan/.
Information on emergency supplies and making an emergency kit can be found online: VAemergency.gov/emergency-kit.
Virginia residents are also encouraged to plan for storm-related power outages by making sure they have a battery-operated radio to receive emergency alerts. Residents can also download the Federal Emergency Management Agency app for smartphones at: www.fema.gov/about/news-multimedia/mobile-products. The app allows users to get National Weather Service alerts.
The Virginia Department of Emergency Management also provides preparedness updates through Twitter and Facebook: www.facebook.com/VAemergency.
Local agencies ready to help
Some local agencies are already preparing for what could happen in Florida and are on alert.
Jim Bean, Sullivan County Emergency Management director, said there are no plans to send a strike force from Northeast Tennessee to Florida, but he could possibly go himself to help with disaster coordination. The state has already sent a team from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to the area.
Teresa Hall, spokeswoman for Appalachian Power, said teams are on standby, but the utility is waiting to see if the storm does considerable damage in its own service area.
“We are holding all of our employee and contract teams until we know more about the path of the storm and any potential impact it could have on our service territory,” she said. “This is our philosophy and general practice. We don’t want to send our crews to assist if the storm is going to have an effect on our service area.”
About 200 crew members with trucks and equipment from Kentucky Utilities and its Old Dominion Power and LG&E companies have been sent to staging areas near Hurricane Ian’s impact area, KU corporate spokesman Daniel Lowry said. The bulk of the KU workers are line technicians, Lowry said, with some contractors and support staff.
“Our crews are really in for some hard work, but they embrace it,” Lowry said.
Old Dominion Power serves Norton, most of Wise County and parts of Lee County.
The cost of sending KU/contractors will be covered by Florida utilities affected by the hurricane, Lowry said. KU’s service region in Kentucky and Southwest Virginia should still have adequate maintenance and repair workers given the weather forecast for the next few days.
“Our first priority is our customers at home,” said Lowry.
At present, Salvation Army of Kingsport does not have plans to send staff or volunteers to Florida. Salvation Army units in Florida will respond first, followed by units from other states, as needed, in the “second wave” around Oct. 11, according to Capt. Aaron Abram.
Kingsport native’s first hurricane
Kingsport native Allison Bailey Stewart, now living in Orlando, admits her nerves “are on high alert.”
Ian is, after all, her first “official” hurricane since she relocated to Florida in January 2020.
“Plans are to remain in our home. I think it is important to make the decision to either evacuate or remain pretty fast. Yesterday (Monday) was tough, trying to decide what to do. Once we found a generator, we decided to stay. We are following Seminole County’s advice and staying up to date on all the current events. Weather notifications are abundant,” Allison said in correspondence with the Times News.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Seminole and Orange county areas where the Stewarts live were under a tropical storm warning.
Allison spent most of Tuesday on what she called “a scavenger hunt” to find the remaining essentials (things like gas cans, batteries and flashlights). She said she feels like she and her husband, Jerry, are “as prepared as possible.”
On Wednesday morning, The Weather Channel reported Hurricane Ian had strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm. The hurricane’s center made landfall at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday near Cayo Costa, a barrier island just west of heavily populated Fort Myers.
Ian was expected to barrel across Florida, with high winds, dangerous storm surge and heavy rain causing massive flooding and extensive power outages.
Both Universal Resort and Walt Disney World are closed until Friday at the earliest.
The Stewarts relocated from Kingsport to the Orlando area because of Jerry’s job with Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, a Darden Restaurants company. It’s another reason they’re staying put.
“Darden has storm protocol for hurricanes — when to close stores, employee safety, and trying to keep the buildings secure. And I did not want to leave him home alone,” Allison said.
Most of Allison’s family, including her mother, Louise Bailey Dickson; daughter, Stephanie; and son, Samuel, lives in the Tri-Cities and would have preferred she left Florida. Another daughter, Sara, the Stewarts’ youngest, is in school at Florida State in Tallahassee.
“That was a hard call — if she would stay or come home. Finally late (Monday) night, we decided it was safer for her to remain in the panhandle area versus driving through potential rain and then the chance of not being able to get gas going and coming,” Allison said.
“Our family is concerned,” Allison said, “but we are hoping to have communication with them before during and after the storm.”
So, for now, they wait — with all eyes on Ian.
Church seeking donations for Ian relief
The Alcoa-based Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church is asking church members to donate money to the United Methodist Committee on Relief or UMCOR, which will help in Florida with U.S. Disaster Response teams, said the Rev. Mike Sluder, director of connectional ministries for the Holston Conference.
He said later individual churches will be offered the chance to send teams to Florida as needed and available. In addition, he said the denomination has flood buckets and hygiene kits stored in the Knoxville area and Marion, Virginia, that can be shipped as needed. Those items are constantly restocked by Holston Conference churches and went to Southwest Virginia during flooding there this summer, Sluder said. Holston Conference Districts in East Tennessee include Appalachian, Three Rivers and Mountain View.
Cliff Hightower, Carmen Musick, Mike Still and Rick Wagner contributed to this report.
