(Columbia) Sept. 12, 2003 - Brand new electrical generators just arrived at National Guard headquarters off Bluff Road. It's good timing, because they might be needed if Isabel hits South Carolina.

The Guard is short on engineers and military police with hundreds deployed overseas

Adjutant General Stan Spears met with the governor Thursday and said the shortage appeared to be the most serious potential problem in the state's hurricane readiness, "There's assets that I can't just reach out and grab right now. That are unavailable to me."      

Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Brooks changed that position Friday and says the organization has enough personnel to deal with any crisis, "We've got plenty of Guardsmen available and as we said initially, we have 3,500 that we can put on the street within a phone call. We have another three to 5,000 that would be available in the aftermath or in following operations."

Brooks says the Guard is short on military police and some engineering staff and equipment.

The state's Army and Air Guard have about 11,000 members and more than 2,500 are deployed in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba and others are guarding South Carolina Air Force bases. Brooks says the National Guard called up more than 6,300 members in the two months following Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

SCE&G is currently checking supplies and equipment.

Company spokesman Robin Montgomery says as early as Sunday, they will begin deciding where to position repair crews if the storm appears to be aiming at South Carolina, "And we also begin talking to other utilities about getting some assistance from their crews if we need that in the aftermath."

The State Emergency Management Division has raised South Carolina's readiness level to OpCon Four on the governor's orders. The readiness posture scale has five levels, five being the lowest and one indicating the highest threat.
    
The State Emergency Operations Center on Fish Hatchery Road has not been activated as of yet, but the Emergency Management Division will begin limited staffing at the center Sunday afternoon. Those staffers will begin to coordinate a variety of matters from communications to traffic management.

The Guard and those agencies are still waiting and watching Isabel. They don't know yet whether they're going to even need the new equipment or when they're going to put their hurricane response plans into effect.

State officials will be monitoring the storm over the weekend and so will utility companies throughout the southeast.

By Jack Kuenzie
Posted 7:22pm by BrettWitt