The South Carolina Emergency Response Team continues to track Hurricane Florence and remains fully dedicated to preparing for the storm’s potential impact on South Carolina. Forecasters say that Florence is currently a Category 2 hurricane with the capacity to bring record amounts of rain to South Carolina. The State Emergency Operations Center is fully operational, staffed by emergency personnel from various state agencies and emergency organizations. The SEOC will remain operational 24 hours a day until further notice.
SCEMD reports the following details as of Thursday evening:
- 4609 people are staying in 66 evacuation shelters throughout the state.
- DHEC has opened 12 special medical needs shelters.
- There are five pet shelters open.
- More than 1100 state law enforcement officers are on duty.
- The South Carolina National Guard has more than 2,700 Soldiers and Airmen on duty and 132 State Guard members on duty.
- The Air Operations Branch has three aircraft staged to provide aerial reconnaissance over designated evacuation routes.
- The FEMA Incident Management Assistance Team is on site.
- Anyone interested in volunteering can go to register.
- No river sweeps are scheduled; they will be reinstated after landfall of the storm.
- The state Public Information Phone System has answered over 5,300 calls.
- More than 2,200 people have been evacuated from 113 health care facilities along the coast.
- DHEC has assessed 241 dams in the projected path of the storm.
As the path of Hurricane Florence approaches, residents should continue to monitor local media and official, verified social media accounts from public safety agencies. Evacuation shelter locations, emergency information for residents, ways to volunteer and how to donate goods are at scemd.org.
Residents with questions about Hurricane Florence should call the state’s 24-hour hotline at 1-866-246-0133.
