How prepared do you think you are if Hurricane Irene was to hit our area.
Emergency officials say the most important thing about hurricane season is being prepared.
"It's all about preparedness," said Nanci Conley, who works with the American Red Cross locally.
"Just because the U.S. has largely been spared from hurricanes over the past several years is no reason to believe Irene will change course and go out to sea," Charley Shimanski, Senior Vice President of Disaster Services for the Red Cross wrote in a press release Tuesday. "People who live in or who are vacationing in the areas that could be affected by this storm need to get ready now."
Horry County Emergency Management Director Randy Webster says because every hurricane is different, don't think we've dodged a bullet.
"We've had significant storms. Hazel in '54 was a category 4 storm. It did a significant amount of damage," he said.
On Tuesday night, the State Emergency Management Division has upgraded to OPCON 3, meaning their Emergency Operations Center is up and running in Columbia.
Webster says Horry County remains at OPCON 4 Tuesday night. They are not using the Emergency Operations Center. He says if that was to change, that decision would be made Wednesday morning.
For much more information on hurricane preparedness, including what to do before, during, and after a storm, go to CarolinaLive.com's Tropical Update Page.
