The Times and Democrat - THURSDAY'S EDITORIAL

Being ready for Ernesto wise decision

THE ISSUE: Reacting to Ernesto threat

OUR OPINION: State not overreacting to threat of tropical storm

South Carolina has done the wise thing in preparing for the worst from Tropical Storm Ernesto, which could strike the coastline this afternoon. The storm is not a major hurricane, but it is a weather-maker not to be ignored.

As Charleston Mayor Joe Riley pointed out Tuesday in announcing emergency preparations, “Tropical-storm-force winds are nothing to laugh at. A 65-mph wind or gust ... is substantial.”

Indeed, the experts tell us that Hurricane Hugo’s winds at Charleston were not what has been believed. Those pictures of piles of yachts are memorable. A study by the National Academy of Science’s National Research Council contends the vessels were tossed around by winds of 70 mph to 80 mph, not the 137 mph measured at the top of a vessel at the Navy base in North Charleston.

“We must really get a little realistic about the myth of Hurricane Hugo being a Category 4 hurricane at Charleston,” former state Climatologist Mike Helfert has said. “Nonsense. It was closer to a tropical storm in intensity” in the downtown area.

Those conclusions have been backed up by Richard Shenot, who directed the Charleston office of the National Weather Service in 1989 and has since retired: “Charleston did not experience a Category 3 or anything like it. If people are relating to that, saying, ‘I went through the worst of it in Hugo,’ then they’ve got the wrong idea.”

And winds inland were less – yet look at the damage caused in eastern Orangeburg County, at Sumter and as far north as Charlotte.

Consider even a strong thunderstorm. Look at the damage a microburst can cause. Picture sustained winds of that strength or stronger on a broad scale. Do not underestimate this tropical storm.

Being ready to react is important, which is why South Carolina’s Emergency Management Division has been ordered into the emergency operations mode.

The storm isn’t likely to necessitate the response of a Hugo, but great storms have taught us lessons.

Ask Hurricane Katrina victims. It is better to be ready – and better for the government to be ready – than to react to problems in the aftermath.

The late Gov. Carroll Campbell is owed a lot of credit for his response both to Hugo itself and the state’s emergency needs in the aftermath of the storm. The improvements made in the 17 years since Hugo, and those made in the aftermath of Katrina, could well benefit us today and in the prime weeks of our hurricane season between now and Oct. 1.

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