Survivors of hurricanes past, particularly those in our area who remember all too well when Charleston was Hugo's Ground Zero, watched with great empathy over the weekend as the Gulf Coast prepared for a storm that conceivably could have destroyed our historic sister city. From New Orleans' standpoint, because the damage of a direct hit by Hurricane Katrina could have been so much worse with the potential loss of thousands of lives and much of the city itself, the outcome of it being only terribly battered was relatively good news.

Though thousands of homes in outlying parishes and the Mississippi and Alabama coasts reportedly went underwater with property damage projected at more than $20 billion, there is much positive about the success of the massive evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents. There was little time to spare, particularly since predictions initially had the hurricane returning to Florida after it struck Miami as a Category One hurricane last Thursday night.

The success of the difficult New Orleans evacuation is due in large part to the institution of a contra-flow traffic plan much like the one that was approved for South Carolina after the 1999 Hurricane Floyd fiasco. One New Orleans resident with a home in Charleston, who hesitated to leave until Sunday morning, told us that while it was a slow ride out of the city, there was little gridlock and travel into Georgia took only a few hours longer than normal. It's important, she noted, to have a number of alternative routes with all the lanes headed away from the storm-targeted area. CNN reported Monday that more than 80 percent of New Orleans residents heeded the evacuation plea.

There will always be those who refuse to go, as was the case in New Orleans. But the scene at the Superdome, which sheltered around 10,000 people from the storm, was a reminder that not everybody has the means to evacuate when the time comes.

Recognizing that economic reality, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, according to director Ron Osborne, plans to evacuate, by bus, as many of those who lack other transportation as possible when needed. Mr. Osborne also told us Monday that our state's "overall shelter plan" extends "as far as the Upstate."

Further, there is a continuing need around the Lowcountry to find ways to accommodate those who would seek shelter if they could find facilities that better accommodate their pets. The Superdome, for example, refused to allow pets. As a result, some people stayed behind in vulnerable areas.

The lack of such a facility locally was brought home during Hurricane Hugo and addressed in part during Floyd when the North Charleston Coliseum opened its doors to pets, a joint venture between the John Ancrum SPCA and the city of North Charleston. The fact that more people than anticipated crowded into the facility has resulted in a change of the rules. SPCA executive director Charles Karesh tells us that only one person per family will be allowed to accompany the pets next time -- and the animals must be "kenneled" (contained in a cage or crate). He also stressed the obvious best course for people and pets, when possible, would be to evacuate.

The fresh lessons of Katrina underscore that point. Mr. Osborne urged S.C. coastal residents to heed even "voluntary" evacuation orders that are generally issued by the governor from eight to 12 hours before mandatory orders.

Though Mr. Osborne hailed the state's improvements in reversing lanes and monitoring traffic in and beyond South Carolina to maximize inland evacuation routes, he warned: "Our infrastructure, unfortunately, has not been able to keep up with the population growth. The lane reversal is not a golden apple or anything. It should help the flow of traffic, but it's still the same thing: leave early, and be prepared to leave early."

While various news outlets reported fatalities along the Gulf Coast on Monday, the extent of the storm says it will be days before a true assessment can be made. But there is no question that the readiness of hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents to seek higher ground saved untold numbers of lives. Such readiness can save lives here, too.