While Wayne County was spared some of the worst damage from Hurricane Isaias last week, the storm did provide some good lessons on emergency preparedness.

Aaron Stryker, the Emergency Management Coordinator for Wayne County, gave an on the county’s storm readiness at Thursday’s county board meeting.

Stryker says the big challenge was opening shelters while maintaining COVID-19 precautions.

Only eleven people utilized the two shelters during the storm, but Stryker says the county was prepared for more.

Wayne County Manager Craig Honeycutt said he was impressed seeing the health protocols that were in place at the two shelters the county opened ahead of Isaias.

Honeycutt also thanked the school system for their cooperation during setting up the shelters and the meal preparations that weren’t needed by the end of the storm.

Stryker warned residents to not get complacent when it comes to storm preparations just because the local area got lucky with Isaias.

Stryker has been Wayne County’s Emergency Management Coordinator for just over a year, and he says the county will keep making progress with its emergency preparations.

Isaias struck Wayne County as a low-level hurricane late Monday evening and was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it exited the local area Tuesday morning.