糖心vlog官方入口

Hurricane Erin was a near miss, but it serves as a good reminder for hurricane preparedness as August marks the beginning of peak season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association released an updated 2025 hurricane season outlook on Aug. 7 that predicts a slightly lower forecast than the initial predictions in May.

Experts now call for a 50% chance of an above-normal season, a 35% chance of a near-normal season and a 15% chance of a below-normal season.

The updated outlook forecasts a 70% probability for 13-18 named storms (including the four that happened since June 1), five-to-nine hurricanes, and two-to-five major hurricanes. NOAA predicted 13-19 named storms, six-to-10 hurricanes and three-to-five major hurricanes in May.

Horry County Director of Emergency Management Sam Hodge reminds it only takes one hurricane to cause a disaster and the best way to stay safe is by being prepared.

He said the most important way to stay prepared is to 鈥淜now Your Zone鈥� and develop a plan. The Know Your Zone public education campaign identifies various zones and interstate routes for South Carolina鈥檚 coastal populations to use in the event of an evacuation. The zones are ranked A-F with A being the first zone to evacuate as the most susceptible to storm surges.

An interactive map can be found for individuals to input their address to determine zone and vulnerability in a storm surge.

鈥淪o, when those evacuation orders do come out, you鈥檒l know if you need to evacuate or not,鈥� Hodge said. 鈥淲e encourage everyone to develop a plan. Know where you're going to go in the event those orders are given. Make sure you have a good communication plan with your family members, especially those who live out of state somewhere.鈥�

The Horry County Hurricane Guide says for North Strand residents to take Highway 9 North to I-95 or SC 22 to US 501 to Marion. Central Coast residents can take Highway 501 to Marion, or to Highway 378 to go toward Columbia. South Strand residents evacuate on Highway 17 South to Georgetown, then highways 521, 261 and 378 to Columbia.

Hurricanes can lead to evacuations, cause individuals to shelter in place, and pose the threat of interrupting basic utility services, according to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. While disaster relief workers and officials will act as quickly as possible, SCEMD says individuals and families should prepare a kit with three days worth of essential supplies to function without water, gas and electricity utilities.

says to pack two gallons of water per person, per day; identification; cash; nonperishable food; batteries; toiletries; blankets and clothes; batteries and more. A detailed list of supplies for an all-hazards kit can be found on SCEMD鈥檚 website and within the SCEMD smart phone application.

鈥淎lways in that plan make sure you consider your pets and special populations,鈥� Hodge said. 鈥淎nd even though we鈥檙e building them for hurricane season, an all-hazards kit is always great to have whether it鈥檚, recently with the wildfires, or a flooding event or a hurricane or tornado. An all-emergency supplies can help out in all those different types of events.鈥�

When evacuations are ordered, Coast RTA will offer a free shuttle service to transport residents to relief shelters. The Coast RTA smart phone application will have blue and white hurricane evacuation bus stop signs as designated pick-up locations.

Hodge also advised getting up-to-date weather information from local, reliable sources.

The state of South Carolina is the sole authority on determining an emergency evacuation. Counties and municipalities will assist in communicating evacuation orders to the public.

The city of Myrtle Beach encourages residents and visitors to sign up for 鈥淢B Alerts鈥� to receive emergency alerts and public safety announcements. Emergency Management Specialist Dana O鈥橞rien said the Myrtle Beach Emergency Management Division created a full of helpful hurricane-related information. The first link brings you to sign up for MB Alerts to receive notifications from the city via e-mail and text. She said the alerts are always sent by a person, not a bot.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 overuse it. Any time that you get too many notifications they kind of become white noise. So, we definitely want to make sure that when you receive a message through MB Alerts, you know it is something we want you to pay attention to. It鈥檚 not going to be something that is cumbersome or overstimulating,鈥� O'Brien said.

Horry County offers a similar messaging service with Code Red.

After a storm has passed city and state officials will notify the public when the roads are safe to return.

O鈥橞rien said common, but avoidable accidents and fatalities often occur in the aftermath of a hurricane, and encouraged the public to educate themselves on proper generator use.

鈥淚f you are experiencing power outages, generators can be a wonderful tool, but we have to know how to use them. Even those who do know how to use them need to be sure that they don鈥檛 become complacent. Obviously, if the weather is not so great outside, you might not want to venture out much, but we have to make sure that we place any generators appropriately,鈥� she said, adding carbon monoxide poisoning is a common cause of indirect storm fatalities.

Generators must be at least 20 feet away from a structure with the exhaust facing away from a residential structure.

More information on what to do before, during and after a hurricane is available in the Horry County Hurricane Guide. The guide is available for download and can be found at under Emergency Management.