Red Cross shelter offers security to nervous evacuees

Brittney Shaw of Georgetown with her foster sister Denise Bellamy signs in her family at the Pleasant Hill shelter assisted by Red Cross volunteer Vernell Washington.

By: | SCNOW
Published: September 06, 2008

HEMINGWAY – As Tropical Storm Hanna approached the South Carolina coastline, a few residents took advantage of the Red Cross shelter at Pleasant Hill Elementary School. As of 5:30 p.m. Friday evening there were 23 people to stay the night and volunteer personnel said there would likely be more. Some folks wait until the storm gets bad before they will leave home, they said.
Henry Pressley of Nesmith was one of the first to arrive and one of the few that did not come from Georgetown County. “I’ve been over here before. I live by myself and when the TV says the weather is gonna’ get bad, I just come. They really treat you good. I come here and they give me a cot. But I’d be happy to be on the floor,” he said. “I stay in an older board house and I just come.”
Gwen Cochran, with her daughters Ashley Kinloch and Tamia Cochran heard how the weather was going to be bad. “My grandmother and husband asked me and the girls to come to be on the safe side, with me being disabled and our house being worked on. I didn’t want to take no chance. By the grace of God we’ll be safe. They were worried about leaving their little Pekinese dog at home, but Cochran said she anointed the dog and prayed over it. “I know it’ll be all right. Tamia is worried about the dog; she started to cry about it.”
Debbie and Claude Presutti came from Georgetown to get away from the storm. “We’re originally from Jersey, been down here almost 19 years, and we remember Hugo,” she said. “We don’t take any chances. The weather feels just like it did before Hugo, and it reminds me of it. It’s so hot and humid! We had to leave during Hugo and we had structural damage to our home when we got back.”
Another family is back from memories of Hugo. “We came here when Hugo came, and we were back for Hurricane Floyd and other times too,” said Arnold Shaw of Georgetown who brought his daughters and granddaughters.
“When there’s a storm we get out. We live in a doublewide; we pray for the best, but the house can be replaced; the family can’t.”

Red Cross shelter offers security to nervous evacuees

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Deal of the Day

Weather

Latest News Video

Things to Do

Links We Like