Chamber Members, 

As our community prepares for Hurricane Florence, your Chamber is staying on top of the latest information, assembling resources for your business, and will be posting-up at the emergency operations center.

At this point, AccuWeather is calling it a Dangerous Category 4 Hurricane with the likelihood to stall and pound the Carolinas for days. The President and Governor have declared a state of emergency, Orange County is in full preparedness mode, UNC-Chapel Hill campus was closed effective 5pm yesterday and students were encouraged to get out of town, and more than a million people have been ordered to evacuate the coastline and are heading inland. 

Here’s what you can expect in Central North Carolina according to the National Weather Service’s briefing 5:30pm yesterday: extreme threat of flash flooding, extreme river flooding, extreme power outages, significant wind, and elevated tornado risk. 

As you consider your safety and that of your employees, as well as your business continuity, here are some immediate resources:

#1 GET INFORMED

These are the information sources we find most helpful for tracking the hurricane: 

• Access Latest Information: National Weather Service and 97.9 The Hill WCHL & Chapelboro.com
• Sign-up for Local Emergency Alerts: Orange County | Durham County | Chatham County
• Follow Local Twitter Updates with #hurricaneflorence #florence: Orange Co, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, Durham, Chatham, WCHL & Chapelboro, Piedmont Electric, Duke Energy

#2: GET PREPARED

We think these are the most relevant resources to get your business prepared right now: 

• Ready Business Hurricane Toolkit
• Tune-into this FEMA / US Chamber Conference Call today (9/12) at 1:30pm ET

#3: STAY CONNECTED

Keep these numbers handy - Our community will need your business re-opened as soon as possible post-hurricane, and your Chamber is standing by to connect you with the information and resources you need throughout preparation and recovery:

• Contact your Chamber for local business/employer-related information: anelson@carolinachamber.org | text: 919.260.0981 | @CarolinaChamber 
• Contact 1-888-My-Biz-Help (US Chamber Disaster Help Desk) for direct support from national disaster recovery experts

Scroll down for additional helpful links.

Be safe, be smart, let’s work together to get through this and back in action. 

Aaron Nelson

President & CEO

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce

ADDITIONAL HELPFUL RESOURCES 

National:

• Ready NC
• FEMA: How to Prepare for a Hurricane (get prepared section)

State: 

• NC Restaurant and Lodging Association Emergency Toolkit (get prepared section)

Local: 

• Orange County Emergency Preparedness (and access to two emergency shelters)
• Durham County Emergency Response
• Wake County Emergency Response
• Alamance Emergency Response
• Chatham Emergency Response
• @CarolinaChamber, @UNC, @chapelhillmag, @chccs, @orangecoschools