GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Businesses and residents here in the east have started preparing for Tropical Storm Debby which is expected to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to our region this week.

Debby is already having impacts on eastern Carolina.

As the storm makes its way toward the east, Greenville residents and businesses are preparing for flooding and power outages.

While we can’t always prevent outages, that is why some residents are preparing.

“I am gathering water for my family and getting my generator prepped making sure it has oil and the power light is on and ready and now I am just waiting it out to see what happens,” Greenville resident, Anthony Stanley said.

Steve Hawley with Greenville Utilities knows they have to be ready for storms or any other disaster 24/7.

“We made sure our supplies are ready, our crews are all appropriately scheduled, and that we are ready to respond in a moment’s notice,” Hawley said.

Stanley says he takes any storm heading our way very seriously because he’d rather be prepared than unprepared.

“I’ve been living in North Carolina for the past 18 years and every time a storm comes through, we get a little bit of wind and we lose power so I take storm preparedness very well,” Stanley said.

Hawley says if you have to use a generator, there are some things to keep in mind.

“Don’t run the generator inside, you don’t want carbon monoxide poisoning but the other thing that is important for us is making sure your house is properly wired for an outside generator and what that means is when you plug it in, the power is going out and hopefully not out through the lines and cause a problem for our lineman when they are out there trying to restore power,” Hawley said.

Greenville utilities set up flood barriers near the greenway to keep water out of its substations.