COLUMBIA, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster wants his state’s residents to heed the warnings.
“Any time from about 6 o’clock on, everybody needs to really be on guard,” McMaster said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Tropical Storm Idalia sent rain and wind across the Carolinas after hitting Florida as a Category 3 hurricane. One place locally that’s on high alert is Chesterfield County.
Dana Dixon with the Chesterfield County Emergency Management Department says the county was expecting up to eight inches of rain and winds up to 25 miles an hour during the storm.
“If they are out in transit, we advise them if they see water standing, just turn around, don’t drown,” Dixon said. “We don’t want anybody to get hurt or have any kind of accident for them. Just trying to avoid it, if at all possible. If you are inundated with rain, let’s try and stay in a shelter to be secure.”
One of the places emergency officials anticipated to see the most activity was on the Great Pee Dee River in Cheraw. Dixon says storm preparations in the county use every resource available.
“We reach out to our committees and stuff that are predominantly volunteer,” Dixon said. “You know, we got volunteer fire department, volunteer rescue squads. The only paid service that we do have is going to be the Cheraw Fire, that’s where the river bridge is the Pee Dee River where most of the flooding would usually occur.”
State officials are stressing to stay away from flooded roads and downed powerlines.
“Secondary dirt roads anywhere where there is any type of body of water, because usually, everything, you know, water uphill road comes downhill,” Dixon said. “So let’s just try to be mindful of everywhere you’re going because it is going to be inevitable that you’re going to have water standing still at some point.”
