Are you #ArtsReady for hurricane season?
State EMD offers new readiness tool
South Carolina residents have a new, state-of-the-art resource to help them be better prepared for hurricanes.
Last week, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division officially launched hurricane.sc, an interactive website that can guide people through the fundamentals of being prepared for hurricanes and tropical storms.
Designed to be a quick, adaptive and flexible online reference, hurricane.sc is accessible on a desktop computer, a smartphone or a tablet.
“People in potentially vulnerable areas will be able to use this new website along with our other resources to update their emergency plans, know what evacuation zone they’re in and make informed decisions about their personal safety,” SCEMD Director Kim Stenson said. “Hurricane.sc is another tool in the toolbox for people to use when becoming their own emergency managers and being personally prepared for hurricanes.”
The new website is a virtual companion to SCEMD’s main website, scemd.org, the SC Emergency Manager mobile app and the annual South Carolina Hurricane Guide. The 2021 edition of the Hurricane Guide was released May 30 to kick off Hurricane Preparedness Week. The State Emergency Response Team has updated the Guide for this year’s hurricane season, including new evacuation zones for Berkeley County.
The South Carolina Hurricane Guide will be available:
- at all South Carolina Welcome Centers,
- at any Walgreens store statewide,
- and at SCDMV offices in Bamberg, Beaufort, Bluffton, Charleston, Conway, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Kingstree, Ladson, Lake City, Little River, Mullins, Moncks Corner, Mount Pleasant, Myrtle Beach, North Charleston, Saint George and Varnville.
The 2021 Hurricane Guide will also be released via newspaper subscription and rack sales:
- starting Sunday, May 30, in The Beaufort Gazette, the Charleston Post and Courier, the Post and Courier Myrtle Beach, the Hilton Head Island Packet, The State, the Sumter Item, the Florence Morning News, the Orangeburg Times and Democrat, the Myrtle Beach Sun News;
- Wednesday, June 2, in Bluffton Today, the Jasper County Sun Times, and Pee Dee Weekly;
- and Thursday, June 3 in the Dillon Herald.
Arts-specific resources
According to Americans for the Arts (AFTA),
Artists and arts organizations are integral to the health and welfare of neighborhoods, towns, and cities in good times, but especially in times of difficulty. Experience has shown, however, that the arts and culture sector is often not well prepared to respond to and recover from a wide range of natural disasters nor human-caused crises, such as acts of terrorism and, increasingly, civil unrest.
Given our state’s geographic location, South Carolinians pay close attention to tropical weather. The SCAC website has a host of up-to-date resources aimed at helping constituents prepare. And speaking of AFTA, they’re among a cadre of arts service organizations and funders who partnered to create NCAPER, the National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness and Emergency Response in 2006. They published a Cultural Placekeeping Guide that is (well, should be) required reading.