Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Emergency Services Acting Manager of Northern Region Keith Hutton is reminding Territorians to get prepared for cyclone season

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NT Emergency Services Acting Manager of Northern Region Keith Hutton is reminding Territorians to get prepared for cyclone season · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: It is just about that time of year when cyclones
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  Speaker 1: could affect the Northern Territory, and this season, I know
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  Speaker 1: the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a sixty percent chance
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  Speaker 1: of an above average number of tropical cyclones in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Region. And if you're leaving the Northern Territory over Christmas,
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  Speaker 1: it is incredibly important to prepare your home beforehand, while
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  Speaker 1: those sticking around do need to make sure that you
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  Speaker 1: check your cyclone kits as well. Now joining me in
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  Speaker 1: the studio to tell us a little bit more about
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  Speaker 1: what we should realistically be making sure that we do
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  Speaker 1: is the Northern Territory Emergency Services, Acting Manager of the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Region, Keith Hutton. Good morning to.
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  Speaker 2: You, Keith, Morning Katie. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? Good, Good to have you on the show. Now.
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  Speaker 1: It is that time of the year where people are
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  Speaker 1: sort of winding down. Some schools have already finished, others
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  Speaker 1: are finishing on Thursday, and people are getting ready to
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  Speaker 1: go on holidays in a lot of cases, aren't they.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're all looking forward to the holidays
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  Speaker 2: this year. It's been a bit of.
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  Speaker 1: A big year and sometimes I suppose that some people
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  Speaker 1: maybe don't get as prepared as what they could for
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  Speaker 1: cyclone season. If they're thinking about holidays and they're just
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  Speaker 1: kind of, you know, looking to the end to.
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  Speaker 2: Get out for a while, Well, when we're going away,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we have to make those preparations. So everyone's
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  Speaker 2: we constantly harp on about make sure you've got your
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  Speaker 2: cyclone kid ready. So I mean, if you haven't dragged
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  Speaker 2: out your cyclone kit by now, you need to get
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  Speaker 2: on that doing that. When the cyclone's announced, it's the
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  Speaker 2: cues of the at the cash register is going to
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  Speaker 2: be pretty long and you might miss out on the
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  Speaker 2: highly valued toilet paper. But yeah, make sure you've got
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  Speaker 2: your cyclone kids ready. Make sure you let people know
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  Speaker 2: what's going on. So if you're going away for holidays,
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  Speaker 2: you've got a house sitter in, make sure the house
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  Speaker 2: sitter knows what the plan is so if they can
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  Speaker 2: shelter in the home where their cyclone kid is. And
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  Speaker 2: if you're holidaying in the territory, make sure you've got
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  Speaker 2: you're prepared, you know where to go as well.
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  Speaker 1: And with the home as well. And if you are
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  Speaker 1: having it looked after, buy a house sitter. Making sure
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  Speaker 1: as well that you're leaving them in a situation where
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  Speaker 1: the jobs are done. You know, you don't want them
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  Speaker 1: to be having to scramble around the yard moving big
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  Speaker 1: items and things like that. You need to have done
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  Speaker 1: it before you go away.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. I've been madly going around for the last month
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  Speaker 2: and a bit just putting things awake in the ladder away,
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  Speaker 2: you know, moving the lawnmar once in a while. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: make sure the yard is tidy and all the heavy
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  Speaker 2: objects are put away. So so when these events do happen,
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  Speaker 2: and they happen without warning, you get two or three
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  Speaker 2: days maybe, and yeah, that's no time to be running
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  Speaker 2: around trying to get everything prepared.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. What about for people who are new to the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory, what do you reckon? They need to know?
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  Speaker 1: Because I know that we quite often get people contact
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  Speaker 1: us say, oh, we've just moved here. What do you reckon?
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  Speaker 1: They need to know? Ahead of cyclone season.
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  Speaker 2: The best resource probably go to a secure and teeth
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  Speaker 2: if they went on too there and had a look,
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  Speaker 2: there's links on there to go and see what preparations
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  Speaker 2: they can put in place. Be aware of what the
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  Speaker 2: cyclone warnings are and where our shelters are. Okay, So
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  Speaker 2: and really assess your building. Are you going to shelter
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  Speaker 2: in your home or are you going to go to
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  Speaker 2: a shelter. That's an important decision to make now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Keith, when you talk about making sure that
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  Speaker 1: your yard and your home is prepared, what are some
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  Speaker 1: of the big ticket items that we all need to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that we do well.
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  Speaker 2: Trampolines, bikes, barbecues, all those sorts of things. They all
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  Speaker 2: become flying missiles during a cyclone. Anything anything that can
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  Speaker 2: be picked up, loose sheets of iron i'd building materials
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  Speaker 2: or garden garden tools, they all become missiles and they'll
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  Speaker 2: all wind up a long way away or probably through
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  Speaker 2: someone's wall.
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  Speaker 1: Now, what about in terms of cyclone kits. I know
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  Speaker 1: you mentioned toilet paper before. What you need to make
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  Speaker 1: sure is the essential items that are in there.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you need to think about your specific situation. So
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  Speaker 2: if you've got medication that you need, you need to
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  Speaker 2: have it at least three days supply that medication. You
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  Speaker 2: need to make sure you've got three days supply of food.
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  Speaker 2: Battery operate equipment such as radio's torch, and recharge those
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  Speaker 2: rechargeable batteries for your phone and communication devices they're really
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  Speaker 2: good to have.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I suppose, like you said, everybody's situation is
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  Speaker 1: going to be different, but particularly if you are somebody
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  Speaker 1: who needs medication, making sure that you've got enough of it.
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  Speaker 1: That's if there is a cyclone and we're out of
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  Speaker 1: action for a few days, that you're not having to
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  Speaker 1: try and get out there and get something, but you
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  Speaker 1: may not be able to.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. Even if you're going to a shelter, you
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  Speaker 2: need to be able to take that take that kit
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  Speaker 2: with you. It's good to have a first, a kit,
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  Speaker 2: basic first a kit and food that doesn't need a
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  Speaker 2: lot of preparation, like cooking that you can eat cold.
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  Speaker 2: We could be without power for three days, you know,
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  Speaker 2: prepared for that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Keith. In terms of volunteers for you guys
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  Speaker 1: with the Northern Territory Emergency Services at the moment, I
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  Speaker 1: would I assume that you're always on the lookout. I'm
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  Speaker 1: guessing that everybody's trained up for over the Christmas period,
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  Speaker 1: but are you after some more volleys maybe for next year?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the news resolutions are always good giving back to
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  Speaker 2: community volunteering in your area. We're always looking for volunteers
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  Speaker 2: at this time year. Our volunteers go on holidays as well,
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  Speaker 2: but we have had a look at and we've put
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  Speaker 2: the screws on them, so we've got good numbers. But
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  Speaker 2: getting into next year, getting into late January will be
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  Speaker 2: the units will be opening up again and they'll be
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  Speaker 2: back to full strength and they'll be looking for new volunteers.
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  Speaker 2: So that's the time to actually get in there and
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  Speaker 2: fulfill that new year resolution.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon it's a good one, you know, to
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  Speaker 1: try and help the community out a little bit more. Keith,
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  Speaker 1: where can people go if they do want to get
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  Speaker 1: a bit more info about potentially becoming a volunteer, you know,
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  Speaker 1: let's say in the new year, is there a website
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  Speaker 1: or somewhere that they can have.
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  Speaker 2: A look so you can go. So you can go
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  Speaker 2: on to secure and t dot dot NT dot gov
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  Speaker 2: dot AU Yep, you can go through there. You can
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  Speaker 2: go on to the PFS website which is NT dot
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  Speaker 2: gov dot U forward Stash PFS and follow the link
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  Speaker 2: sets through through the volunteering.
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  Speaker 1: Good stuff. Well, Keith Hushan always great to catch up
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  Speaker 1: with you, the NT Emergency Services Acting Manager of the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Region. Hope you have a lovely Christmas.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, no worries and to you too, Katie. Look, just
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  Speaker 2: one more thing for the listeners. Just if in the
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  Speaker 2: event of an incident, a severe weather, ins or anything,
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  Speaker 2: don't forget the number to call is one three two
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  Speaker 2: five hundred, but in a life threatening situation it's always
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  Speaker 2: trip O.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, good stuff well, Keith, thank you as always, have
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  Speaker 1: a lovely Christmas Mate, thanks so much for your
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  Speaker 2: Time as thank you Katie.