Hurricane Irma is
still a very strong Category 5 storm and continues to move through the islands
towards Florida.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast
has Irma making an expected turn to the North and heading toward South
Carolina.
The accompanying photo
showing wind speeds provides you with some idea of when we could feel the
impacts of 40mph tropical storm force winds associated with Irma, IF the storm adheres to the currently
forecast track. We know Irma will turn north but exactly when remains
uncertain, and there is still significant spread as to where it might travel
after making its turn to the north.
Don’t forget that the
track that is emphasized is a snapshot of one tracking model. Please do not
focus solely on the black dots as there is a lot of room to either side within
the error cone. While the forecast has a possible landfall at the Georgia/South
Carolina line, a high chance remains for a direct landfall in our area.
The one bit of better
news is that the NHC forecast has Irma weakening as it moves north due to
possible interaction with land. However, if Irma moves over the open water
further away from Florida that could change.
Our best advice is
repetitive but necessary: Make preparations to leave. That way, if the storm
does become more threatening to us and an evacuation is determined to be
necessary, you will only have to jump in the car and go.
PLAN AHEAD
If you do not have a
plan, we recommend that you visit www.ready.gov which
offers good advice on how to prepare for a hurricane. The storm is still far
enough out that you do have time to effectively prepare for it, should it head
this way.
KNOW YOUR
"ZONE"
IF an evacuation is ordered in the future (none
has been ordered at this time), the order will refer to Zones. If you are
not familiar with the Zone in which you reside in Horry County or North Myrtle
Beach, you can access the information via this link: https://tinyurl.com/y9nj6mlb If the link does not work for
your, visit www.HorryCounty.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment