Their forecasts were quite accurate, yet, many people did not feel they were adequately warned of the risk posed by the rivers. The Weather Office warned of Hazel’s arrival throughout the day on Friday October 15, 1954, stressing the impending heavy rainfall. Instead, the water ran off the surface into local rivers, which rose very rapidly, wiping out communities built within their floodplains. The Toronto area had experienced above average rainfall that autumn, especially in the two weeks prior to Hazel’s arrival, saturating the ground and preventing the rainfall from infiltrating the soil. Learn more about hurricane preparedness at /gcemd or October 5 and October 16, 1954, Hurricane Hazel formed in the tropics, tracked through the interior of the United States and across the Great Lakes where it merged with a cold front and dropped record rainfall amounts in the Greater Toronto Area. 15, 1954, permanently altering the coastline in Georgetown County. Hurricane Hazel struck near Myrtle Beach on Oct. 22, 1989, causing catastrophic damage along the coast. Hurricane Hugo hit near McClellanville on Sept. The worst storms in memory for South Carolina occurred in September and October. You may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks after a hurricane. Have enough supplies for your household, including medication, batteries, cleaning and disinfectant supplies, food and water and pet supplies. De-clutter drains and gutters, bring in outside furniture, and consider hurricane shutters. Make copies and keep them in a secure password-protected digital space. Make sure your insurance policies and personal documents, such as ID, are up to date. Sign up for community alerts in your area and be aware of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA), which require no sign up. Both are free at the App Store and Google Play. You can also download the SC Emergency Manager app. Download the FEMA app and receive real-time alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations nationwide. Plan for where you will go and again, don’t forget to include your pets. You may have to evacuate quickly due to a hurricane if you live in an evacuation zone. Make an Emergency Plan. Make sure everyone in your household knows and understands your hurricane plans.Here are some actions you can take now to make sure your family is hurricane-ready. The best time to do that is before a storm is forecast to impact our area, he said. In the meantime, Ellis advises residents to remain vigilant and make sure their hurricane kits are ready.

Surf conditions could begin to deteriorate by the end of this weekend along our beaches. “We will continue to closely monitor Lee throughout the weekend.” “Even if Lee doesn’t directly impact our area, there will be indirect impacts in the form of dangerous rip currents and rough surf conditions,” he added. Long-range forecast models show it should make a northerly turn next week keeping it away from our coast, but “we aren’t counting our chickens until the eggs hatch with this one,” Ellis said. It strengthened this morning and is now just shy of being a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. Georgetown County Emergency Management is currently tracking Hurricane Lee across the Atlantic. Historically, the number of storms rises during the period from late August through the month of September. “Hopefully, we won’t have any more tropical activity come through our area this season, but we still have a lot of Hurricane season left and, statistically, we’re entering the busiest part of the season.” “We were very lucky that Hurricane Idalia didn’t do more damage here last week,” said Brandon Ellis, Georgetown County Emergency Manager and Director of Emergency Services. 10 is the meteorological peak of the Atlantic Hurricane season. As summer begins to transition to fall, there’s another season that should be on people’s minds this month.

Hurricane hazel meteorologist map