Few go to SC, NC shelters before Hanna
REBECCA J.DUCKER/MORNING NEWS
Gail Garrison, Vernecia Cotton, Elizabeth Coleman and Niles Yantchook, all with the Darlington County Department of Social Services, share a laugh at the registraion desk of the shelter set up at Darlington Middle School as the first bands of wind and rain form Tropical Storm Hanna moved into the Pee Dee Region on Friday September 5, 2008. The shelter closed at 9 p.m. after no evacuees took advantage of the service.
Published: September 5, 2008
Updated: September 5, 2008
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) _ Nearly 200 people were in shelters in Charleston, Horry and Georgetown counties as Tropical Storm Hanna spun toward the South Carolina coast.
Spokespeople at the counties’ Emergency Operations Centers said 101 people were staying in Charleston County shelters, 137 were in Horry County shelters and 27 were in Georgetown.
By 5:45 p.m., a shelter at Stall High School in North Charleston had 41 people, including Mona Scoggins. Her family lost their home in Hurricane Katrina and she wasn’t taking any chances.
She lives in Charleston now and says she gets very nervous when a storm approaches.
More than 150 people fled to emergency shelters in Brunswick County, NC, as Tropical Storm Hanna edged closer to the North Carolina coast.
County emergency management director Randy Thompson said he expects Hanna to make landfall between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Forecasters at the National Weather Service said landfall would occur at Holden Beach around 4 a.m.
Thompson said the storm would reach land at high tide.
By 6 p.m. Friday, there were about 30 people in two county shelters, but Thompson expects that number to rise with the storm’s approach.
In New Hanover County, shelters were sparsely attended. Officials estimated that 123 people, one dog and one cat were in the county’s three shelters. Emergency management director Warren Lee said he expects a few more people, but not a huge increase.
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