It could be Thursday afternoon before meteorologists with the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have a clearer picture of where exactly Hurricane Irma will make landfall, but officials are saying South Carolina residents can never be too prepared.
Irma was classified as a Category 5 hurricane on Tuesday morning during the NWS’s morning update, with a projected path that took the storm to the southern tip of Florida by Monday afternoon. Some projections show it turning northward, riding the eastern Florida coast and eventually hitting Georgia and South Carolina.
Should Clarendon residents be concerned?
“The potential impact could be flooding, rainfall, strong winds and possible tornadoes,” NWS Columbia meteorologist Whitney Smith told The State newspaper Monday afternoon, talking about the impact Irma could make on the state. “In the Midlands, we could see flooding rains and strong to hurricane-force winds.”
South Carolina and the Midlands are no strangers to Mother nature’s devastation, suffering through the historic flooding of 2015 and the havoc wrought by Hurricane Matthew last year.
“Because of those events, people are more sensitive to the impact of major weather events,” said Smith, with a warning about Irma’s potential. “It could be the impacts rival Matthew’s from last year. It’s possible it could be worse. At this point, it’s too far out to know.”
County officials like Administrator David Epperson and Emergency Management Director Anthony Mack say they are monitoring the situation closely. The pair worked with first responders, the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office and the Clarendon County Fire Department in 2015 and 2016 to keep Clarendon relatively free of harm from the major storms of those years.
“While they’ve caused a lot of monetary and physical damage, we were lucky in all instances not to have and casualties in Clarendon County,” Epperson said in May. “Anytime we approach a storm, our main goal is the protection of human life.”
“It’s never too early to prepare for a hurricane,” said Smith, who also warned of fake news. Forged weather forecasts have been posted on the internet surrounding coverage of Hurricane Harvey, and some early Irma reports have also been debunked. “There have been lots of false reports. We want to make sure people are getting their information from a credible source.”
