MYRTLE BEACH - A Senate subcommittee on disaster prevention got an earful from local and nationally known experts on hurricanes Wednesday.

The subcommittee hearing, chaired by Sen. Jim DeMint, was the first Senate hearing ever held in Myrtle Beach and featured testimony from the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore.

Witnesses gave statements on everything from shortages of supplies during hurricane evacuations to stricter building codes for coastal areas. There also were complaints that a lack of accuracy in forecasting leads to the loss of millions of tourist dollars during the hurricane season.

“At the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce, it is quite common to receive many phone calls from distressed visitors seeking to change or cancel their vacation plans once the first mention of the Myrtle Beach area, or even the Carolinas, is made with respect to a possible hurricane path,” said Brad Dean, the Myrtle Beach chamber president.

Dean was complaining that because the National Hurricane Center uses a five-day forecast, showing a large area that could be in the path of a storm, many people evacuate needlessly. That leads to the loss of millions of dollars.

“On a busy summer day, as many as 500,000 visitors will arrive, generating an economic impact as much as $40 million each day,” Dean said, “not to mention another $3 million in state and local taxes.”

Dean told DeMint that if more accuracy in five-day forecasts is not possible, the National Hurricane Center should quit using it.

“A forecast that is more likely to be wrong than right may only serve to prompt residents and visitors to ignore such a forecast, or, worse yet, to believe that weather forecasting in general is inaccurate,” Dean said.

Cantore, who has made a career of riding out hurricanes on live television, told DeMint that evacuations during hurricanes can cause more problems than not evacuating.

“We’re asking them to sit in traffic for hours and hours, not knowing if the storm is going to hit,” Cantore said. “This creates an enormous amount of stress and has a psychological effect.”

Still, Cantore pointed out many examples of how hurricane preparedness has improved during the years. He cited advances in technologies that enhance forecasts of storms and public officials who have become better at getting accurate information to the media as examples.

But despite plenty of practice at preparing for tropical storms, many problems exist, Cantore said. He said during every storm he has covered with the Weather Channel, gasoline shortages were a problem during evacuations. There also are shortages of plywood, gasoline cans and other supplies.

The testimony that generated more questions from DeMint than anything else during the hearing was from Dr. David Prevatt, a professor with Clemson University’s civil engineering program.

Prevatt said building techniques exist that would make evacuations virtually unnecessary. He said even though funding for hurricane-resistant construction is low, many advances have been made.

“Public and private support for science and technology research is urgently needed in order to address the mounting economic losses and manage the risks from hurricanes,” he said.

Prevatt said research has led to advances in construction that can withstand a strong hurricane.

“The knowledge exists to build homes that will withstand 100 percent of a storm’s wrath 100 percent of the time,” he said. “However, no one wants to pay for that, and no one would want to live in that type of house.”

DeMint asked if it would make sense to build large public buildings to higher standards, making it unnecessary to evacuate an entire population during a storm.

“Is it possible to have hotels as certified to be able to survive a Category 5 hurricane?” DeMint asked. “Would it not be even a marketing tool for hotels?”

Prevatt agreed that if critical facilities were built to withstand a strong storm, they would lower the number of people who needed to evacuate in the event of a storm.

But Horry County Public Safety Director Paul Whitten pointed out that even if residents survive a storm, they still have to survive the aftermath.

“Even with a structure that withstands a hurricane, if you don’t have clean water, sewer, electricity, if you can’t get firefighters, cops and emergency personnel around, you have a problem,” Whitten said.

Whitten urged the committee to consider funding a Southern Connector, a four-lane highway to the southern Grand Strand, which would help alleviate traffic jams during evacuations.

The prospect of a southern connector has been hotly debated, and was excluded from plans for the proposed Interstate 73 project. But many Horry County residents are still pressing for a southern route.

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