With Hurricane Katrina burned into memory and clear state
guidelines to follow, Gov. Mark Sanford on Monday called for a
voluntary evacuation of oceanfront areas of Georgetown and Horry
counties.
Ophelia, which has bounced between tropical storm and hurricane
status several times, hovered 200 miles east of Charleston
throughout the day. With highest winds in the 70-mph range Monday,
the storm wasn’t a Katrina-like monster, but Sanford didn’t want to
take any chances.
“This is a serious storm that’s got the potential to do a lot of
damage and put lives in jeopardy if we don’t take it seriously,”
Sanford said.
The governor’s office said the decision to call for the voluntary
evacuation was by the book. The state’s hurricane plan calls for
voluntary evacuations when tropical storm-force winds of 35 mph are
forecast for coastal regions. The National Hurricane Center’s 11
a.m. update on Ophelia called for tropical storm winds in Horry and
Georgetown counties by midnight.
Because starting an evacuation at midnight doesn’t make sense,
Sanford opted to issue the order at noon and open three shelters in
coastal schools at 4 p.m.
While Katrina didn’t factor directly into Sanford’s decision,
that storm undoubtedly will influence every action related to this
first hurricane since the devastation of the Gulf Coast.
“You have the entire country watching how the state’s going to
handle it,” said Chris Drummond, Sanford’s spokesman. “We’re going
to make sure this is going to be the ‘best practices’ way of
handling it versus viewing this later on as ‘lessons learned.’”
One major criticism of the Katrina response was that Louisiana
officials didn’t issue evacuation orders soon enough. The mandatory
evacuation orders for New Orleans were issued less than 24 hours
before the Category 4 storm hit.
If hotel occupancy had been a little higher along the S.C. coast
during the weekend, Sanford might have called for voluntary
evacuations then. If hotels are filled, the extra population along
the coast kicks in earlier evacuation deadlines, Drummond said.
Just the threat of a storm seemed to keep tourists away from the
coast, according to preliminary occupancy statistics compiled by
Coastal Carolina University.
Grand Strand hotel occupancy was up from 42 percent in 2004 to 52
percent last week through Thursday. But the Saturday-Sunday figures
were down from 86 percent in 2004 to 78 percent in 2005. Because the
weather along the coast was gorgeous (other than rough surf),
Ophelia would seem the likely reason people didn’t stick around for
the weekend, said Gary Loftus, director of the Coastal Federal
Center for Economic and Community Development at Coastal
Carolina.
Loftus and other coastal tourism officials urge emergency
officials to consider the hit on the economy caused by evacuations.
Last year’s mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Charley cost the
Grand Strand $30.4 million in lodging revenue and at least that much
in other revenue, Loftus said.
Charley, a Category 1 hurricane that made landfall in Charleston
and then again in Horry counties, caused minimal damage.
Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366 or jholleman@thestate.com.
