Dorchester County hopes community will be prepared for hurricane season by attending annual expo

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – With the start of hurricane season just days away, emergency management leaders in Dorchester County want to ensure you are prepared and understand new hurricane evacuation zones.

The county will hold its annual hurricane preparedness expo on Saturday at Ashley River Park.

“So, we have a bit of a fun atmosphere where folks can come and interact with different emergency management, emergency services, folks from the National Weather Service,” said Thomas McNeal, director of Dorchester County Emergency Management.

The Hurricane Expo is a place to get prepared for hurricane season, which also starts Saturday.

“You’ve gotta know your zone; you’ve got to know where you live, and where you work, and which evacuation zone you may be in. Then you’ve really got a create a plan beyond building a kit if you’re going to stay or shelter in place or an evacuation plan. Where are you gonna go? What are you going to take with you, and you prepared for those types of things,” he said.

South Carolina recently unveiled some changed in its coastal evacuation zones.

“Some of the modifications made here in the Charleston region significantly impacted what was formerly ‘Zone A,’ which was a really big zone that encompassed all of Charleston and quite a bit inland,” said McNeal.

Zone A, the red portion on the map, was move closer to the coast making it easier to evacuate just people who live along the coast during certain storms.

“They took a look at it to say sometimes we’re evacuating too much. For a storm that’s going to be smaller or it’s a coastal runner, really we just needed people to get off the barrier islands and just a little bit inland from the beach itself,” he said.

Current models say there is an 85% chance of an above-normal hurricane season this year. You can learn a lot more about that, and all things hurricane-related this weekend.

“Pay attention to what’s going on in the tropics, pay attention to the news forecast as they start to talk about the tropics, and make those plans now so you’re not making those plans in a rush,” said McNeal.

The Dorchester County Hurricane Preparedness Expo will be held on Saturday from 10 am until 1 pm at Ashley River Park.