Pee Dee escapes Hanna damage
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Hanna Wrapup
Hanna Wrapup
Angela E. Kershner/Morning News
Rains from tropical storm Hanna flooded the parking lot of Corbett Center on Pamplico Highway in Florence, pictured here on Saturday, September 6, 2008. Minor flooding and electrical issues were few and far between as Hanna left barely a scratch on Florence.
Published: September 6, 2008
Updated: September 6, 2008
FLORENCE — The Pee Dee dried out Saturday after Tropical Storm Hanna dumped almost five inches of rain but left no real damage.
About 1,000 Progress Energy customers were without power early Saturday morning.
Most of the outages were scattered throughout the region. The only major outage occurred when lightning struck a feeder, leaving 550 customers without power in the Lucas Street area, said Mindy Taylor, community relations manager for Progress Energy.
About 75 Progress Energy employees were working Saturday, and all power was expected to be restored by afternoon, Taylor said.
“It definitely could have been a lot worse,” Taylor said. “But we spent all week preparing so that we would be ready to respond to whatever Hanna brought.”
Hanna made landfall Saturday around 3:15 a.m. near the border of North Carolina and South Carolina, but rain fell inland throughout the night and morning.
The heaviest wind gust recorded at Florence Regional Airport was 32 miles per hour and came just before 2 a.m., according to the National Weather Service, which also provided the rainfall total.
Other than the power outages, Hanna’s affect on Florence County was no greater than a heavy thunderstorm.
No damage of any kind was reported, and only minor street flooding occurred, Florence County natural hazards coordinator Kristy Hughes said.
Nothing too serious happened in Marlboro County either.
Roy Allison, the county’s emergency management coordinator, said a few trees were down Saturday morning, but that there were no reports of property damage or significant flooding.
Marlboro County had a shelter available to residents, but it closed Friday at 10 p.m. because nobody showed up, Allison said.
Darlington County had two shelters open, but they also closed early for the same reason, said Lynwood Epps, public information officer for the county’s emergency management department.
Epps said the only trail Hanna left in Darlington County was a tree down in Hartsville.
“We got by real good,” he said.
Williamsburg County also weathered Hanna without a major impact. Joanna Latson, the county’s planning chief, said minor debris was found on some highways, but there were no reports of structural damages or floods.
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