South Strand Evacuation Could be Trouble
It is important to leave early when a hurricane evacuation is ordered, but it is especially important on the Grand Strand’s south end. From Garden City southward, there is only one evacuation route, Highway 17 through Georgetown, a road that has problems in bad weather.The first issue is the bridge over the Waccamaw River. The bridge will not be closed as a storm approaches, but strong winds do affect the tall bridge. Georgetown County tells their personnel to not use the bridge when the winds reach 40 miles per hour.
The other issue has caused problems before. The evacuation route, Highway 17 through Georgetown, floods during moderate to heavy rain. There are two locations that flood enough to stop traffic. The first is about three blocks into town on 17 near Orange Street. The second location is near city hall. This mainly affects people coming into Georgetown from the south, but heavy enough rain will flood the Andrews Highway, shutting down the evacuation route.
This area has flooded before. Most recently in November, 2006 four inches of rain flooded the road. In 2005, Tropical Storm Tammy dumped over 8 inches of rain on Georgetown, blocking 17 for much of the day, and Tropical Storm Gordon shut down the South Strand's only evacuation route for a whole day in 2000 with over 6 inches of rain.
The city of Georgetown has installed some pumps to try to move the water through the system, but it is not enough. Georgetown is a city with a long hurricane history that is prone to flooding. City leaders have been trying to fix the drainage problems for decades. In May, they met with Senator Lindsey Graham in Washington to request federal funding to keep Highway 17 dry and the evacuation route open. But until the problem is fixed, folks on the South Strand better leave early.
Posted by on 06/12 at 08:11 PM
