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Speaker 1: The mons not expected to arrive until a bit later

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Speaker 1: this year or maybe even early next year. However, it

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Speaker 1: is still a timely reminder for us to make sure

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Speaker 1: that we are cyclone prepared, especially if you are getting

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Speaker 1: ready to hit away on holidays over the Christmas break.

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Speaker 1: And joining us in the studio to talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about this is Northern Territory Emergency Services Acting

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Speaker 1: Deputy Director, Jemma Bell and Juggod. Morning to you, Jemma,

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Speaker 1: Hi Katie, thank you for having me. Yeah, great to

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Speaker 1: have you in the studio now. Gemma, I know that

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Speaker 1: sometimes you know, when we hear from the Bureau of

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Speaker 1: Meteorology that it may not be as active a cyclone season,

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Speaker 1: sometimes people get a little bit laxed and think, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I don't need to be too worried about getting prepared

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Speaker 1: for a cyclone. But that is really not the case, Ash, No,

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Speaker 1: not at all.

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Speaker 2: And I think we all learn a lot from trouble

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Speaker 2: cyclone markets. I think back in twenty eighteen, I think

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Speaker 2: there are a lot of people there that were quite

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Speaker 2: unprepared in that and I think it's just important to

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Speaker 2: note that, you know, the Bureau make their forecasts, but

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Speaker 2: that's what it is. It's a forecast, it's not a

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Speaker 2: prediction down to the exact.

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Speaker 1: What kind of things do we need to do to

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Speaker 1: really make sure that we are prepared for cyclone season?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's certainly a number of things that we

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Speaker 2: recommend that territories or anyone in the territory do each season.

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Speaker 2: First one is to have a household emergency plan. Know

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Speaker 2: what you and your family or what the household is

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Speaker 2: going to do in the event of an emergency. Now

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Speaker 2: emergencies I mean flood, cyclone, yes, but this is also

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Speaker 2: really good activity for fire and a number of other hazards.

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Speaker 2: And it's also important to make sure that the children

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Speaker 2: in your home know about this plan too. It's important

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Speaker 2: that they know what to do just in the unlikely

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Speaker 2: case that you can't be there. Another thing we recommend

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Speaker 2: is to have an emergency kit. Now, we recommend that

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Speaker 2: you have an emergency kit stocked with food and water

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Speaker 2: for enough for about three days, but if you live

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Speaker 2: in an area with above ground power lines, you probably

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Speaker 2: want to consider longer. As we saw with Marcus, just

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Speaker 2: around the Darwin area, there were reports of people being

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Speaker 2: out of power for ten or more days.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was one of them. We were without power

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Speaker 1: for ages. Luckily we had an old generator that we

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Speaker 1: were able to use and we were very fortunate, you know,

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Speaker 1: to be quite prepared, but you're spot on like you don't.

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Speaker 1: There's quite a number of things that people maybe don't

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Speaker 1: think about as well as they should, even having water. Well.

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Speaker 2: I think there are certainly a lot of lessons learned

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Speaker 2: out of COVID. So you know, when COVID happened and

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Speaker 2: everyone's rushing to the shops, that happens every time there's

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Speaker 2: a cyclone or a flood issue. You've been warning. So

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Speaker 2: it's important that you get those things like food, water,

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Speaker 2: but don't forget about toilet paper. Another big one I

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Speaker 2: want to flag is you need to have a battery

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Speaker 2: powered radio.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 2: I mean everyone has smartphones these days, but your radio

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Speaker 2: has the ability to transmit the entire time throughout a

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Speaker 2: flood event. Your smartphone doesn't have that ability. So don't

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Speaker 2: forget about special needs. So if you have medications, if

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Speaker 2: you have babies, you might want to consider nappies formula.

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Speaker 2: You know, the shops will be shut for amber of

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Speaker 2: days in some cases, so it's important that you have

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Speaker 2: all those things that you need. I think here in

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Speaker 2: the territory a lot of people have a lot of

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Speaker 2: what you need because they go fishing and camping and

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Speaker 2: the outdoors a lot. But it is important to kind

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Speaker 2: of do a stock take of everything that you had

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Speaker 2: leading up to the season so that you're not one

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Speaker 2: of those people that rush to the shops and have

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Speaker 2: to wait in line.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, that's exactly right. And it's like, I find

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Speaker 1: it quite interesting as well. I think that we've kind

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Speaker 1: of become this society where we're so used to the

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Speaker 1: shops being opened no matter what. You know, like even

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Speaker 1: on Christmas Day these days, you can sometimes find somewhere

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Speaker 1: to get different bits and pieces. But the fact is,

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Speaker 1: when there is a cyclone or when there's a severe

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Speaker 1: weather event, that is just not the case.

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Speaker 2: I think it's also important for to flag with business

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Speaker 2: owners that they are responsible for their staff during these events,

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Speaker 2: and that includes the travel to and from work, and

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Speaker 2: you know, it's important that these businesses that do choose

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Speaker 2: to remain open to make sure making that consideration when

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Speaker 2: they do hear about these weather warnings coming through.

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Speaker 1: Now we know that it's not only cyclones that we've

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Speaker 1: got to be got to be concerned about. We've also

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Speaker 1: seen over recent weeks and months, particularly in the Barkley region,

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Speaker 1: the situation with bushfires, and we know that flooding is

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Speaker 1: a massive concern for us in the territory. And I

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Speaker 1: understand that there has been a recent change with the

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Speaker 1: warning system for the Northern Territory for all of those

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Speaker 1: kinds of events.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so for this season, the Northern Territory Emergency Service

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Speaker 2: have implemented the Australian Warning system for cyclone, flood storm

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Speaker 2: and other severe weather. Now territories will already be familiar

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Speaker 2: with this system as this was rolled out for bush white,

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Speaker 2: bushfight and heat wave hazards earlier on in the year.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 2: So what this system is, it's basically a national standard

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Speaker 2: for emergency messaging. Basically, what it's all stemmed from is

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Speaker 2: that each jurisdiction, so other states and territories kind of

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Speaker 2: do things a little differently. Yeah, and we understand, you know,

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Speaker 2: the territory is a really transient place, so we need

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Speaker 2: to be making sure that we're doing everything that we

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Speaker 2: can to ensure that the messaging is easy to understand

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Speaker 2: and for those people that traveling through different jurisdictions, so

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Speaker 2: that we're all on the same page and know what

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Speaker 2: to do and how to prepare for these events that

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Speaker 2: do happen here in the territory.

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Speaker 1: It does seem like common sense, you know, particularly when

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Speaker 1: you've got people moving from other states and that kind

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Speaker 1: of thing, to just make it, you know, across the

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Speaker 1: board right around Australia, everybody going off the same song sheet. Now,

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Speaker 1: tell me, we know that with any severe weather event

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Speaker 1: there is usually that risk of flooding as well, or

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Speaker 1: with you know, with cyclones and those weather events. What

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Speaker 1: do people need to remember when they're out on the

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Speaker 1: roads or when you know, when we are at risk

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Speaker 1: of flooding, because that's another thing that we've got to

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Speaker 1: be concerned about in the coming weeks and months.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think when it comes to flooding here in

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Speaker 2: the territory, because there's such a vast area, you know,

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Speaker 2: you could be driving for six seven hours quite easily,

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Speaker 2: particularly out to a lot of our remote communities. That's

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Speaker 2: a normal thing for them, and you know, it's just

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Speaker 2: really important that if you come across the flooded road

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Speaker 2: in the wet season. You know, what we say is

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Speaker 2: if it's flooded, forget it. It's honestly not worth the risk.

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Speaker 2: You know, you think your vehicle might be able to

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Speaker 2: get across, but is it worth the safety of you

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Speaker 2: and your family Because there are instances every couple of

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Speaker 2: years or so where we are having to go out

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Speaker 2: and rescue people that get themselves into these situations. And

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Speaker 2: if you're particularly out in a remote road, just think

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Speaker 2: about how hard it is for us to get to

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Speaker 2: you in time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. Well, Jemma Bellinger into Emergency Services,

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Speaker 1: Acting Deputy Director. We really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for coming in.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you