Mount Pleasant Magazine July/August 2019

45 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com | www.BestOfMP.com feature Management Department mobile app, which you can search as “CCEMD.” Residents of the islands can monitor their respective city websites during a storm emergency in addition to the information available through Charleston County. Patno recommended that the public utilize the hurricane guide, which is available at charlestoncounty.org , to identify the different pick-up points where public buses will transport them to the nearest available shelter during a storm. One critical emergency- planning adjustment made after Hugo is that hurricane shelters are no longer located in areas that would be vulnerable to a storm surge. All shelters are now located in the northern end of the county, explained Patno. This was a difficult lesson learned during Hugo when Lincoln High School’s cafeteria was used for a shelter and sustained severe flooding during the height of the storm surge, endangering the lives of its occupants. Whether you live alone or with others, Patno advised preparing a disaster plan so that you know where you would go and what you would take with you in the event of a hurricane. “Our message is always to evacuate if you live in an area (forecasted to be) affected by a hurricane,” Patno said. HURRICANE COORDINATION AND EVACUATION PLANNING Although we dodged a bullet with Florence, Patno cautioned that you “can’t let complacency set in because each year is different.” He said emergency teams have learned a lot from the floods in 2015, Matthew in 2016, Irma in 2017, as well as Florence last year — and continue to refine the emergency-planning process. Charleston County tests their emergency- operations plan annually in June. The Town of Mount Pleasant and sister municipalities also participate in this full-scale hurricane exercise. Homeowners • Condo • Wind & Hail • Commercial • Flood COASTAL COVERAGE SPECIALISTS ARE YOU PREPARED? Holly Dawson Sass Schirmer Principle Agent Grayson Schirmer Jones TC Wilkinson Katie Poletti LaTorre