CHARLESTON, S.C. - South Carolinians have spent a busy August dealing with tropical storms and hurricanes. After four such storms, Gov. Mark Sanford worries people may decide to ride out a major storm when they should be evacuating.

First, Alex threatened the state before moving northeast and slipping across the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Bonnie spun into the state through the backdoor, coming northeast from the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Charley made a second landfall in South Carolina as a weak hurricane and then Gaston, a tropical storm, sloshed through the state Sunday.

"There's a real danger that people grow complacent," the governor told The Associated Press after Gaston made landfall Sunday. "All, in the grand scheme of things, have been moderate storms. This one didn't make hurricane strength."

The worry is "somebody out there living in Moncks Corner or Mount Pleasant will say it's certainly a hassle to be without electricity and we had some flooding in the yard but a disaster it's not," Sanford said.

Their conclusion after four such storms might be "this is not a big deal and I'm staying around for the next one," he added.

The next one could be a major one, such as Category 4 Hurricane Frances in the Atlantic which officials in the state are monitoring closely.

"The bigger danger is people grow hurricane fatigued in the sense that they grow complacent," the governor added. "We have to be very, very watchful about a bigger storm. Since Hugo we have been spared but history would say that at some point we will have one coming our way."

Sanford said each storm is different and dealing with Charley two weeks ago was different from dealing with Gaston.

As Charley approached, Sanford ordered a mandatory evacuation of areas east of U.S. 17 Business in Georgetown and Horry counties.

"Charley has some evacuation elements to it that just didn't exist with a tropical depression" which spawned Gaston, he said.

"They were very different storms. If you look at Charley you didn't know when it came back over the Gulf Stream if it was going to jet back up to a Category 2 or a Category 3," the governor said.

Charley made a second landfall in South Carolina after devastating southwest Florida and crossing the Florida peninsula.

Gaston "was sort of a pop up storm" that posed the threat of flooding and moderate winds, but not the same type of threat at Charley, he said.