Terry’s Top 10: Things to Know About Hurricane Season
By Terry Massey
April showers bring May flowers, but June brings a much different kind of storm – hurricane season.
Granted, the “big ones” usually occur later in the year, but June is a good time to get ready in case a hurricane decides to blow to Myrtle Beach this summer.
If you’ve lived or visited the Grand Strand very often, you know the basics – leave town if there’s a big one bearing down, and be prepared for the smaller ones.
But this week’s top 10 list features some unwritten rules for folks who have never been through one before. Call it hurricane lessons I’ve learned the hard way:
10) One man’s evacuation is another man’s vacation. Why spend the weekend at the Motel 6 in Florence when for a few more miles and dollars you can do something, well, fun. No offense to Flo-town, but you can only go to the barber shop and watch so many haircuts for entertainment. A few suggestions within a six-hour drive: the Appalachian Mountains, the Outer Banks, Atlanta, Savannah, Charlotte or Raleigh – anywhere without a hurricane that’s not named Florence.
9) Contrary to popular belief, this is not a snow storm, so you do not have to raid the nearest grocery store to stock up on non-perishable food items. Sure, it’s a good idea to have some snacks handy, but unless Hurricane Armageddon is coming there’s no reason to buy Bi-Lo out of milk, bread and Beanie Weenies. It might even be a good time to get a bargain on some surf and turf. Nothing like grilling steak and shrimp in 100 mph winds so the folks can Florence can smell it.
8) Put fresh batteries in your flashlights. If the power does go out, you don’t want to be searching around in the dark trying to find some new Double-A’s, and stealing them out of the smoke detectors is more dangerous than stumbling around in the dark, especially if you’re going to light candles. Keeping a stash of matches can be a lifesaver, too. Just pretend you’re a smoker and grab a couple of extra books every time you go out to dine at a place that gives away freebies.
7) Do yourself and your neighbors a favor and secure any loose objects in your yard that can quickly be transformed into lethal projectiles. It sounds crazy, but a garden gnome can become the equivalent of a cannon ball with a little wind power. Imagine surviving all the wind and water Mother Nature throws at us but getting Mr. Jones’ 10-speed bicycle hurled through your front window, or Mrs. Smith’s patio furniture through your roof. If it isn’t attached to the ground, secure it.
6) How did early man ever survive without duct tape? It really does fix everything and in the event of a hurricane, it’s a godsend. You can put duct tape over your window panes to keep them from shattering to pieces and the special 200 mph will can withstand most major storms. It won’t stop your windows from getting broken, but at least you won’t have to worry about taking a glass-shard shower and having your living room transformed into an indoor swimming pool.
5) I’m not suggesting you ignore all the warnings, but sometimes our local emergency-preparedness people go a little overboard. If the national weather folks are saying the storm is going to hit the Outer Banks, as almost all of our close calls have been over the past 15 years, hunker down and have a hurricane party. There’s no reason to relocate your family and friends if you have a safe place to hide out and a blender to make the kind of hurricanes that come in a glass.
4) If you’re a tourist planning to come to Myrtle Beach, don’t automatically cancel your plans because there MIGHT be a hurricane. Sometimes the media over-hypes a story and scares the vacation out of you, especially those crazy TV reporters that ride out the storm so you can watch them blow away. Wait until you get the real story and be flexible for a last-minute trip. There’s a good chance the storm will turn out to sea and you can have the beach to yourself.
3) Our normally small waves get big when a hurricane approaches, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best time to surf or swim. Surfers flock to the beach before a hurricane because it’s really the only time our waves get big enough to ride Hawaii-style, but newbie surfer wannabees beware. Unless your name is Michael Phelps, you have no business being in the water. Rip currents can separate you from your board and pull you out to sea quicker than you can say “Dude!”
2) I’m not a meteorologist and I have no scientific data to support this statement, but the days following a hurricane traditionally feature some of the nicest weather of the year, something about the storm sucking up all the humid air and carrying it away. Again, my last name’s not Cantore, I just know some of the best days on the beach always seem to happen right after a storm chases away all the humidity and tourists. If anything, it’s the best time to hit the beach.
1) The No. 1 rule is to stay safe, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Instead of watching the Weather Channel non-stop and worrying about what’s going on outside, pull out some party games and make the most of it. Start a friendly betting pool and let people predict where the eye of the storm makes landfall, play a drinking game where everyone has to do a shot whenever the weatherman says “precipitation” – anything to stay upbeat, sane and make the most of it.
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