August 19, 2025 • 20 mins
Are you ready for what Mother Nature might throw our way? When Hurricane Erin rapidly intensified from Category 1 to Category 5 in just 24 hours, it served as a stark reminder that preparedness isn't optional for coastal communities—it's essential.
Shannon Whitehead, Emergency Management Resilience Officer for the Town of Mount Pleasant, joins us to share her expertise on hurricane readiness and community resilience. With her background as a geologist who previously worked with FEMA, Shannon brings valuable insights about the four major hurricane hazards we face: wind damage, tornadoes (particularly water spouts), storm surge, and flooding. Did you know Mount Pleasant faces every possible natural hazard except volcanoes? That's why having a comprehensive emergency plan is crucial for every resident and business owner.
We dive deep into practical preparedness strategies, from creating an emergency "go kit" with essentials like water, food, and medical records, to understanding evacuation zones and routes. Shannon shares a brilliant tip most people overlook—keeping a photo of yourself with your pet to prove ownership if separated during evacuation. For business owners, she outlines how to develop action plans covering closures, employee communications, and securing physical assets. We also explore resources for vulnerable populations, including seniors and those with disabilities.
With hurricane season at its peak, this conversation couldn't be more timely. Take control of your safety by signing up for emergency alerts at tompsc.com, downloading the SC Emergency Manager app, and knowing your evacuation zone before disaster strikes. Remember, as Shannon emphasizes, "It only takes one storm"—will you be ready when it comes?
Mount Pleasant Chamber's 15th Annual Business and Community Expo
Venue
Omar Shrine Convention Center
Address
176 Patriots Point Road
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464, US
Starts
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, 11:00 a.m. EDT
Ends
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, 5:00 p.m. EDT
Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions
Production Sponsor: RMBO.co
Design Sponsor: DK Design
Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi Mike, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm good Good.
I'm so glad that we had thispodcast today.
It's incredibly timely.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I know it really is and you know I'd like to welcome
our listeners to the show today.
Building Business Podcast withthe Mount Pleasant Chamber.
Hello folks, that was Rebecca'ssweet voice you just heard just
now.
This is Mike Compton, MarketingChair for the Chamber, and
Rebecca, you're the ExecutiveDirector.
I am You're doing a great job,by the way.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thank you, I appreciate that, mike.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, we really appreciate your leadership.
I speak for the board too.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you.
Who cares what they all think?
I appreciate you all very much.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Could not do this without the board and also our
Membership Coordinator, jd,who's back at the office holding
down the fort.
So thank you, jd.
Yeah, she's amazing, you knowwhat?
Who else is amazing is Shannon.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Whitehead.
She is our guest today.
Shannon say hello, helloeveryone.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Shannon, what's your title?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So I have a very long title at the town of Mount
Pleasant, but I am specificallythe Emergency Management
Resilience Officer for the town.
I am in the executive office asan advisee for the mayor.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It means that I chase a lot of storms, write plans,
as well as do a lot of grants.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Storm chasing.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I monitor the storm quite a bit Basically.
As you all know, we are in peakseason of hurricane season.
Right now we have HurricaneErin out in the Atlantic as well
as another disturbance.
So basically with my job I justkind of monitor the storm, send
information, making sure thatwe have plans in place, ready to
(01:40):
go speak with citizens, thecommunity.
You know, with Rebecca spokewith the Mount Pleasant Chamber
of Commerce and just kind ofputting the word out there, so
everybody's prepared if we endup getting a hurricane.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
You did a luncheon with us recently, right?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I sure did, Rebecca?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
you took some notes from that luncheon, didn't you?
Did you want to dive in alittle bit more on those notes?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah.
So thank you, shannon, forbeing with us today.
I was.
I thought I knew what yourposition was all about and I
really don't, and I didn'trealize what the town offered as
well in terms of resources.
So, before we dive too muchinto that, tell the listeners,
if you don't mind, how you gotinto the position with the town,
(02:20):
how you are a not really astorm chaser, but clearly you
enjoy weather.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah so how that came about?
Yeah, and I greatly appreciateit.
Um, so I kind of went backwardsa little bit.
I went to College of Charleston.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I am a geologist by trade, um, so earthquakes would
kind of also be your a lot aboutearthquakes, okay, all right,
most definitely.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Um went to the private sector and then from
there I went to FEMA and helpedout with their individual
assistance department, and thenI always had a love for
Charleston.
They always say when you moveaway you're always going to come
back.
That's happened to me twice.
So I am back here in Charleston.
I kind of just had a love forhelping people, just in general.
And then the weather has alwaysbeen a big thing for me too,
(03:05):
especially after HurricaneKatrina.
I kind of really got into thiskind of position.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So yeah, and the weather here is not boring, it
is not whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
The town actually just did a town specific hazard
mitigation plan, meaning that wedid a study of all hazards that
are in the Charleston area,specifically the town, and we
have all hazards, except for avolcano that we know of.
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Great.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So, being at the time of year that it is, let's do
talk about hurricanes.
And what does somebodylistening out there?
What are the four major issues?
I thought I knew them all, butI didn't, so let's talk about
the four major issues.
We think of wind, that'scorrect.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yep, we have.
So we have wind, we havetornadoes, specifically water
spouts, usually on the coastalarea.
We also have storm surge, whichis number one, as well as
flooding.
So you know, especiallydowntown area gets flooded
really bad but we also have ournuanced areas in the town of
(04:07):
mount pleasant as well that wejust, uh, keep an eye on and
monitor, okay yeah, okay, yousaid something about erin.
Uh, kind of on its way, is stormsurge a key to that one, even
though they're what, 400 milesout is that we said from the
coast yeah, so, um, based uponthe national weather service of
charleston, they indicated thatyou know, when it swings by,
it's still going to go out andcurve north.
(04:29):
That's the projected path as ofnow and it seems to be in
correlation with all the runsthat they've had and it's going
to be approximately about 400miles, possibly A storm surge in
wind, you know, because thehurricane errand is huge in
diameter, so it's just not wherethe cone of uncertainty is.
You've got to think about thebroader area.
So that's why they're doing theevacuation in North Carolina,
(04:53):
you know, on the coastal area.
But storm surge and wind iskind of really what you have to
worry about during these storms.
But even those four key onesthat you know we spoke of.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So do you think, with forecasting there, are we doing
a better job?
Because Hugo was ones that youknow we spoke of.
So do you think, withforecasting there?
Are we doing a better jobbecause hugo was such a surprise
long time ago now, 1989, isthat right, uh?
Is it easier to forecast wherethey're going to go?
Is it more reliable?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
yeah, if we have the technology, then that we have
now, yeah, so not.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Hugo did that funky turn and then right yeah, so I
mean, everything is situational.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
That's what I tell everybody just in general,
because you never know, becauseyou have your low fronts and
your high weather person it'ssituational that moves, but yes,
with the technology.
But you know, every, like I said, everything's situational.
But the technology that we havenow, you know, helps us to
predict further of kind of theimpacts and possibly where it's
(05:46):
going to go.
But also having those outsideresources and having those
relationships so with thenational weather service
charleston, with the nationalhurricane center, you know, just
because we're mount pleasant,we also communicate with our tri
tri cities, which we call cityof charleston, town of mount
pleasant, north charleston, butwe also get information from the
(06:08):
health care coalition.
So a lot of these people areputting out different
information, not differentinformation, but the same key
information to us so it's ableto help us predict where we
could go and help prepare a lotquicker and plan so that's a lot
of resources for information.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So the listener out there, particularly the ones
who've moved into the area and Idon't know how many a day are
you moving- in.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I used to know those numbers.
It's 40, 40 a day.
Thank you, okay, 40 a day tothe tri-county area, is that how
you would?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
perhaps refer to it.
So if you were to pick a source, would you to say this is going
to give you the most up to date?
We have wonderful weather,folks out there, our TV stations
, but the town is that also kindof like a one-stop shop for
everything going on?
Yeah, Do we just go click ontothe town website and get alerts?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, so there's many areas that you can go.
First and foremost, I alwaystell people to make sure that
they get the accurateinformation.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Okay, that's important.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Because, you know social media platforms now we
have AI and that they get theaccurate information.
Okay, that's important.
Because you know social mediaplatforms now have AI and that's
not currently accurate.
So you want to make sure thatyou're getting the correct
sources so, like your localnewscaster that you, you know,
know that they're going to putout the right information.
Charleston County's website,south Carolina Emergency
Management, semdgov you can goto that, but the town does
(07:30):
specifically have one where wepush out the same information.
So if you go to the town'swebsite, which is t-o-m-p-s-ecom
, you can go there and go toNotify Me and that's where you
can sign up for specific alerts.
You'll have to scroll down alittle bit once you hit the
notify me button and then go tothe alert center and once you
sign up you'll specifically getalerts from the town of Mount
(07:53):
Pleasant.
That way we're keeping the sameaccurate information.
But you can also follow thetown's social media pages.
We have an Instagram, aFacebook, and what we do like to
ask because there is a lot ofinaccurate information now based
upon AI and different thingspeople are doing is that once
you see that in your local townor wherever you live, but
(08:14):
specifically for Mount Pleasant,charleston area, you know,
especially if you're new herewhat could help us is, if you
see that information on ourwebsite, to physically share it,
so everybody's getting the sameaccurate information.
But yes, but the town has itsown website that you can sign up
for.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Notify me okay, that's great to know, and so the
resources are really important.
But let's also I want to talkabout how do we get ahead of
this, prepare for this?
Sure, what should we alwayshave in our go?
Kit, our go kit to go box whatneeds to be in there, yeah, so
most definitely so.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Hurricane season, you know, obviously um is is very
long, um, but not only duringhurricane season.
You want to have a we, since wehave all hazards.
You know why not have a go kit?
Because think about, you know,flooding, um things that's
happened all over the unitedstates, fires or anything such
as that nature.
So you have it ready to go.
But but yeah, for like just ago kit, just in general.
(09:12):
You know you want to havesupplies for you and your family
water, food, medical records.
Make sure you have those.
If you have a business, youknow, make sure you have your
insurance papers as well as yourif you're a homeowner, if you
have kids, make sure I have yourinsurance papers as well as
your.
If you're a homeowner, um, ifyou have kids, make sure I
always tell people to havesomething in the bin that's
gonna let them feel more um safebecause you know that could be
(09:36):
a big thing for a child to haveto get up and move and go
somewhere.
Um, and we're all pet friendlyso we all have fur babies, which
I do as well um, to make sureyou have the stuff for them too.
You know, not only just haveone harness, have two in case
anyone breaks, they do say foryour pets.
So at the town we do have drystorage bags.
(09:56):
That was provided from theCharleston Animal Society for
pets.
Justin Journal's got achecklist.
But I like to tell people, makesure you have a picture of you
and your pet so it showsownership, because a lot of
times too something bad wouldhappen, you know, and you get
separated.
Then you can show ownership ofyour pet.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Never thought about that.
That is a brilliant idea.
I honestly never thought aboutit either.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You know I'm thinking a picture of your pet, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But to show ownership .
Speaker 3 (10:21):
A picture of you and your pet.
I have a bunny.
Oh really, I expect to see apicture of you with the bunny.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yep, that's right You're going to have to.
I'm going to get lost in theshuffle.
No, no Evil laugh just now.
Anyhow, that's really cuteabout the pets thing, for sure.
What about on the hurricaneside of things?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
How can we be better prepared, particularly with our
businesses out there?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, so you know, with businesses for hurricanes,
you know obviously having a planin place, you know you're
preparing and you're respondingkind of like a mitigation, but
you want to plan, so you want tomake sure that you have maybe
an emergency action plan foryour business within that.
That kind of tells okay, whatare we doing as a business if we
have to close down?
(11:12):
How are we closing down?
How are we going to tell theemployees, what can we do for
our employees to help as well?
You know, making sure that youdo your your normal things,
obviously bringing in yourfurniture, if you have any
outside, um, making sure youtalk to your neighbors, because
you know, basically it startslocal and ends local.
So neighbors helping neighborsand that's just not home, but
(11:34):
that's businesses.
You know how can you help eachother coming back, because if
it's something, if it was amajor category hurricane, what
does that look like for yourbusiness?
Will you still be closed for along period of time?
When will you open?
How will you communicate thatto your employees, as well as to
the community, that you areopen or that you are closed?
(11:55):
And, most importantly, thoseinsurance papers you know,
before a hurricane or any kindof storm, especially if there's
an evacuation order to call yourinsurance company, make sure
your papers are up to date forhurricane season.
You know flooding andeverything.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
These are all things that you just overlook, right?
Especially just simple thingslike having an action plan with
your business.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, and that's just having like the numbers as well
.
You know your employees'numbers, other people's numbers
that may be able to help you.
So say, for instance, if you'regetting back and you need help
in a certain area, like the2-1-1 number that you can call
that kind of helps with eachstate you know if you're needing
tarps or different things suchas that nature.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I didn't know that 2-1-1.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, I didn't know that either.
I've lived here a while.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
This is why we do this, this is why we have this
podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I try to.
I do plastic sheeting at home,but maybe I need to look into
getting tarps too because ofleaks.
Yeah, huh.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay, good stuff.
Yeah, those are great notes.
What else we got in there?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
So that's all great, that's preparing right, that's
great.
So you've got your to-go box,now I need to go.
So how do I leave, like, whatroute do I take?
I was here for Floyd, that'show long.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I've been here, I knew not to go 26.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I went a different direction.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, so how?
How do I know how to get out ofhere?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So, basically, you want to go to the SEMD website,
okay, and first off, you want toknow your zone.
Obviously, in this you knowhurricane guide, um, it has it
on here as well.
They did just change up theirzones last year, so Mount
Pleasant is in Zone B.
There are three houses in MountPleasant that are in Zone A I'm
(13:40):
not sure which one that is.
But if you go to the SEMDwebsite and click Know your Zone
, you can physically type youraddress in and it will pop up.
It'll say Zone B, zone C, d, andthen after that they do have
the maps within the state guidethat you can get over at the
town if you would like.
They also have it online andthat tells you the routes that
(14:07):
you need to go.
And so if they're saying zone Aevacuate first, you're going to
go the route that they tell youto go.
And I always tell people go theroute that they ask you to go,
because you don't want to getstuck on those side roads if
there's flooding or if there's atree.
Right, you know you.
You want to make sure thatyou're you're going the route
that they suggest, just becausethey they plan this, you know
all the time.
But um, but yeah, that's kind ofhow you can find the
(14:28):
information and know which routeyou need to go to and stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Is it real time so that they know if there's
flooding coming, that type ofthing?
Yeah, so they kind of plan forall of this they do Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So they actually have exercises where they change the
routes?
Huh Well, not necessarilychange the routes, I'm sorry,
but do the interstate whereeverybody can go in one
direction?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, I just downloaded the SC Emergency
Manager app.
Okay, you can get that at SC.
What is it?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
SEMD.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah org.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah, listeners, do that.
It's really easy.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
And it might save your life one day.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Look at us saving lives right now.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah, absolutely, saving lives and keeping our
businesses strong.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
That's right, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Building business yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
There was this cool.
Where can they get one of thesehandy dandy thingies?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, so you can actually get the state guide
over at the town hall Town hallAt 100 Ann Edwards Lane here in
Mount Pleasant and you can askfor one, or you can just ask for
myself.
Shannon Whitehead and I canbring some down for you.
But you can also go online.
They have them online as wellon the SEMD website.
You can have your own PDF fileor anything that you need.
(15:43):
You could probably also go toCharleston County's website as
well.
They have their own guide andthen they also have the state
guide on there as well okay yeah, but in the charleston county
guide they actually have, um,the bus stops where you could go
in case, for some reason, ifyou are unable to leave.
(16:03):
I always tell people to leavewhen they kind of heed, warning
that you should go and make surethat you keep an eye on the
path of the storm, but using theinformation that's provided
from you, from experts, becauseI'm not a meteorologist by any
means but if some reason yourcar breaks down or it's the last
minute and you've got to go toa shelter, there are actual bus
(16:27):
stops where you can go to get onthe bus to go to the shelter,
or they have that.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Charleston.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
County to let you know where they're at as well.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So it sounds like kind of keeping those resources
online, you know available, likepulling down the apps, getting
ahead of it.
Yeah, when talking about ourfur babies, do all shelters
allow pets, or how do you figurethat out?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So obviously so we don't have shelters on the
coastal areas, because you know,people have to leave.
Yeah, so they start to do themin the North Charleston area and
Charleston County.
Along with the state theycoordinate those efforts to see,
okay, what shelters can we have, Like normally they're schools,
but they do other buildings aswell.
(17:09):
I know last year there was ashelter that did allow pets as
well.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Okay, Any advice for someone out there who we've
talked about children, butperhaps have a parent, they've
got to, also a loved one who iselderly and needs assistance, or
maybe they have some dementiarelated issues.
Any advice for that, for thatperson?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, that's a good question.
So there is.
I actually have a pamphlet too.
It's called Senior Prep.
Okay, but you can go online.
So just senior and then prep.
They have a lot of goodinformation.
They did have an expo, and Ithink they do it every year.
(17:47):
They just recently had it acouple months ago at the North
Charleston Coliseum, for theseniors to come out and learn
what's available to them and howthey can, because a lot of
people too are in, you know,assisted living facilities and
whatnot.
So my best advice, too is, ifyou have a parent that you're
help taking care of or anyonewith disabilities, just kind of
(18:09):
getting those numbers prepared.
You can also get it on the semdwebsite too.
But the senior prep, they havea lot of good information for
everyone.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So we've actually started an aging connections
program, mike, uh, for ourchamber members that provide
senior services.
So I'll get with you, shannon.
I'd like to have thatinformation available, and
certainly the chamber officewe'd love to have.
Yeah, some of that informationtoo, so that, um, we're at 534
johnny dawes boulevard suite 101.
(18:39):
We'd love for y'all to comevisit us at the chamber office,
but we'll have that as well.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Um, this has been a great conversation, thank you so
much, yeah, and we'll put asmany notes as we can, too, in
our show notes so all the dotcoms website contact info.
We can put in our show notes aswell, so yeah, that'd be great
uh, yeah, thanks for the time,shannon yeah, thanks for having
me.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I appreciate it.
You know, just like I telleverybody, just make sure you're
prepared, and you know it onlytakes one storm, um, you know,
especially like hurricane erin.
It went from a category one tocat five and 24 hours, which is
called rapid intensification.
So you know, just make surethat you have everything ready
to go and that you know yourzone and have a plan to where
(19:21):
you're going to.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And you can find Shannon at tonpsccom down on the
Mount Pleasant website.
Very good, thank you,appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Thank you.
Thank you, rebecca, thanks tothe Charleston media solutions
as well, and the mount pleasantchamber.
We'll, uh, we'll talk to younext time, mount pleasant thank
you so much.
Hi Mike, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm good Good.
I'm so glad that we had thispodcast today.
It's incredibly timely.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I know it really is and you know I'd like to welcome
our listeners to the show today.
Building Business Podcast withthe Mount Pleasant Chamber.
Hello folks, that was Rebecca'ssweet voice you just heard just
now.
This is Mike Compton, MarketingChair for the Chamber, and
Rebecca, you're the ExecutiveDirector.
I am You're doing a great job,by the way.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thank you, I appreciate that, mike.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, we really appreciate your leadership.
I speak for the board too.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you.
Who cares what they all think?
I appreciate you all very much.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Could not do this without the board and also our
Membership Coordinator, jd,who's back at the office holding
down the fort.
So thank you, jd.
Yeah, she's amazing, you knowwhat?
Who else is amazing is Shannon.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Whitehead.
She is our guest today.
Shannon say hello, helloeveryone.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Shannon, what's your title?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So I have a very long title at the town of Mount
Pleasant, but I am specificallythe Emergency Management
Resilience Officer for the town.
I am in the executive office asan advisee for the mayor.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It means that I chase a lot of storms, write plans,
as well as do a lot of grants.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Storm chasing.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I monitor the storm quite a bit Basically.
As you all know, we are in peakseason of hurricane season.
Right now we have HurricaneErin out in the Atlantic as well
as another disturbance.
So basically with my job I justkind of monitor the storm, send
information, making sure thatwe have plans in place, ready to
(01:40):
go speak with citizens, thecommunity.
You know, with Rebecca spokewith the Mount Pleasant Chamber
of Commerce and just kind ofputting the word out there, so
everybody's prepared if we endup getting a hurricane.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
You did a luncheon with us recently, right?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I sure did, Rebecca?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
you took some notes from that luncheon, didn't you?
Did you want to dive in alittle bit more on those notes?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah.
So thank you, shannon, forbeing with us today.
I was.
I thought I knew what yourposition was all about and I
really don't, and I didn'trealize what the town offered as
well in terms of resources.
So, before we dive too muchinto that, tell the listeners,
if you don't mind, how you gotinto the position with the town,
(02:20):
how you are a not really astorm chaser, but clearly you
enjoy weather.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah so how that came about?
Yeah, and I greatly appreciateit.
Um, so I kind of went backwardsa little bit.
I went to College of Charleston.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I am a geologist by trade, um, so earthquakes would
kind of also be your a lot aboutearthquakes, okay, all right,
most definitely.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Um went to the private sector and then from
there I went to FEMA and helpedout with their individual
assistance department, and thenI always had a love for
Charleston.
They always say when you moveaway you're always going to come
back.
That's happened to me twice.
So I am back here in Charleston.
I kind of just had a love forhelping people, just in general.
And then the weather has alwaysbeen a big thing for me too,
(03:05):
especially after HurricaneKatrina.
I kind of really got into thiskind of position.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So yeah, and the weather here is not boring, it
is not whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
The town actually just did a town specific hazard
mitigation plan, meaning that wedid a study of all hazards that
are in the Charleston area,specifically the town, and we
have all hazards, except for avolcano that we know of.
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Great.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So, being at the time of year that it is, let's do
talk about hurricanes.
And what does somebodylistening out there?
What are the four major issues?
I thought I knew them all, butI didn't, so let's talk about
the four major issues.
We think of wind, that'scorrect.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yep, we have.
So we have wind, we havetornadoes, specifically water
spouts, usually on the coastalarea.
We also have storm surge, whichis number one, as well as
flooding.
So you know, especiallydowntown area gets flooded
really bad but we also have ournuanced areas in the town of
(04:07):
mount pleasant as well that wejust, uh, keep an eye on and
monitor, okay yeah, okay, yousaid something about erin.
Uh, kind of on its way, is stormsurge a key to that one, even
though they're what, 400 milesout is that we said from the
coast yeah, so, um, based uponthe national weather service of
charleston, they indicated thatyou know, when it swings by,
it's still going to go out andcurve north.
(04:29):
That's the projected path as ofnow and it seems to be in
correlation with all the runsthat they've had and it's going
to be approximately about 400miles, possibly A storm surge in
wind, you know, because thehurricane errand is huge in
diameter, so it's just not wherethe cone of uncertainty is.
You've got to think about thebroader area.
So that's why they're doing theevacuation in North Carolina,
(04:53):
you know, on the coastal area.
But storm surge and wind iskind of really what you have to
worry about during these storms.
But even those four key onesthat you know we spoke of.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So do you think, with forecasting there, are we doing
a better job?
Because Hugo was ones that youknow we spoke of.
So do you think, withforecasting there?
Are we doing a better jobbecause hugo was such a surprise
long time ago now, 1989, isthat right, uh?
Is it easier to forecast wherethey're going to go?
Is it more reliable?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
yeah, if we have the technology, then that we have
now, yeah, so not.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Hugo did that funky turn and then right yeah, so I
mean, everything is situational.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
That's what I tell everybody just in general,
because you never know, becauseyou have your low fronts and
your high weather person it'ssituational that moves, but yes,
with the technology.
But you know, every, like I said, everything's situational.
But the technology that we havenow, you know, helps us to
predict further of kind of theimpacts and possibly where it's
(05:46):
going to go.
But also having those outsideresources and having those
relationships so with thenational weather service
charleston, with the nationalhurricane center, you know, just
because we're mount pleasant,we also communicate with our tri
tri cities, which we call cityof charleston, town of mount
pleasant, north charleston, butwe also get information from the
(06:08):
health care coalition.
So a lot of these people areputting out different
information, not differentinformation, but the same key
information to us so it's ableto help us predict where we
could go and help prepare a lotquicker and plan so that's a lot
of resources for information.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So the listener out there, particularly the ones
who've moved into the area and Idon't know how many a day are
you moving- in.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I used to know those numbers.
It's 40, 40 a day.
Thank you, okay, 40 a day tothe tri-county area, is that how
you would?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
perhaps refer to it.
So if you were to pick a source, would you to say this is going
to give you the most up to date?
We have wonderful weather,folks out there, our TV stations
, but the town is that also kindof like a one-stop shop for
everything going on?
Yeah, Do we just go click ontothe town website and get alerts?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, so there's many areas that you can go.
First and foremost, I alwaystell people to make sure that
they get the accurateinformation.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Okay, that's important.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Because, you know social media platforms now we
have AI and that they get theaccurate information.
Okay, that's important.
Because you know social mediaplatforms now have AI and that's
not currently accurate.
So you want to make sure thatyou're getting the correct
sources so, like your localnewscaster that you, you know,
know that they're going to putout the right information.
Charleston County's website,south Carolina Emergency
Management, semdgov you can goto that, but the town does
(07:30):
specifically have one where wepush out the same information.
So if you go to the town'swebsite, which is t-o-m-p-s-ecom
, you can go there and go toNotify Me and that's where you
can sign up for specific alerts.
You'll have to scroll down alittle bit once you hit the
notify me button and then go tothe alert center and once you
sign up you'll specifically getalerts from the town of Mount
(07:53):
Pleasant.
That way we're keeping the sameaccurate information.
But you can also follow thetown's social media pages.
We have an Instagram, aFacebook, and what we do like to
ask because there is a lot ofinaccurate information now based
upon AI and different thingspeople are doing is that once
you see that in your local townor wherever you live, but
(08:14):
specifically for Mount Pleasant,charleston area, you know,
especially if you're new herewhat could help us is, if you
see that information on ourwebsite, to physically share it,
so everybody's getting the sameaccurate information.
But yes, but the town has itsown website that you can sign up
for.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Notify me okay, that's great to know, and so the
resources are really important.
But let's also I want to talkabout how do we get ahead of
this, prepare for this?
Sure, what should we alwayshave in our go?
Kit, our go kit to go box whatneeds to be in there, yeah, so
most definitely so.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Hurricane season, you know, obviously um is is very
long, um, but not only duringhurricane season.
You want to have a we, since wehave all hazards.
You know why not have a go kit?
Because think about, you know,flooding, um things that's
happened all over the unitedstates, fires or anything such
as that nature.
So you have it ready to go.
But but yeah, for like just ago kit, just in general.
(09:12):
You know you want to havesupplies for you and your family
water, food, medical records.
Make sure you have those.
If you have a business, youknow, make sure you have your
insurance papers as well as yourif you're a homeowner, if you
have kids, make sure I have yourinsurance papers as well as
your.
If you're a homeowner, um, ifyou have kids, make sure I
always tell people to havesomething in the bin that's
gonna let them feel more um safebecause you know that could be
(09:36):
a big thing for a child to haveto get up and move and go
somewhere.
Um, and we're all pet friendlyso we all have fur babies, which
I do as well um, to make sureyou have the stuff for them too.
You know, not only just haveone harness, have two in case
anyone breaks, they do say foryour pets.
So at the town we do have drystorage bags.
(09:56):
That was provided from theCharleston Animal Society for
pets.
Justin Journal's got achecklist.
But I like to tell people, makesure you have a picture of you
and your pet so it showsownership, because a lot of
times too something bad wouldhappen, you know, and you get
separated.
Then you can show ownership ofyour pet.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Never thought about that.
That is a brilliant idea.
I honestly never thought aboutit either.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You know I'm thinking a picture of your pet, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But to show ownership .
Speaker 3 (10:21):
A picture of you and your pet.
I have a bunny.
Oh really, I expect to see apicture of you with the bunny.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yep, that's right You're going to have to.
I'm going to get lost in theshuffle.
No, no Evil laugh just now.
Anyhow, that's really cuteabout the pets thing, for sure.
What about on the hurricaneside of things?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
How can we be better prepared, particularly with our
businesses out there?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, so you know, with businesses for hurricanes,
you know obviously having a planin place, you know you're
preparing and you're respondingkind of like a mitigation, but
you want to plan, so you want tomake sure that you have maybe
an emergency action plan foryour business within that.
That kind of tells okay, whatare we doing as a business if we
have to close down?
(11:12):
How are we closing down?
How are we going to tell theemployees, what can we do for
our employees to help as well?
You know, making sure that youdo your your normal things,
obviously bringing in yourfurniture, if you have any
outside, um, making sure youtalk to your neighbors, because
you know, basically it startslocal and ends local.
So neighbors helping neighborsand that's just not home, but
(11:34):
that's businesses.
You know how can you help eachother coming back, because if
it's something, if it was amajor category hurricane, what
does that look like for yourbusiness?
Will you still be closed for along period of time?
When will you open?
How will you communicate thatto your employees, as well as to
the community, that you areopen or that you are closed?
(11:55):
And, most importantly, thoseinsurance papers you know,
before a hurricane or any kindof storm, especially if there's
an evacuation order to call yourinsurance company, make sure
your papers are up to date forhurricane season.
You know flooding andeverything.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
These are all things that you just overlook, right?
Especially just simple thingslike having an action plan with
your business.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, and that's just having like the numbers as well
.
You know your employees'numbers, other people's numbers
that may be able to help you.
So say, for instance, if you'regetting back and you need help
in a certain area, like the2-1-1 number that you can call
that kind of helps with eachstate you know if you're needing
tarps or different things suchas that nature.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I didn't know that 2-1-1.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, I didn't know that either.
I've lived here a while.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
This is why we do this, this is why we have this
podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I try to.
I do plastic sheeting at home,but maybe I need to look into
getting tarps too because ofleaks.
Yeah, huh.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay, good stuff.
Yeah, those are great notes.
What else we got in there?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
So that's all great, that's preparing right, that's
great.
So you've got your to-go box,now I need to go.
So how do I leave, like, whatroute do I take?
I was here for Floyd, that'show long.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I've been here, I knew not to go 26.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I went a different direction.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, so how?
How do I know how to get out ofhere?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So, basically, you want to go to the SEMD website,
okay, and first off, you want toknow your zone.
Obviously, in this you knowhurricane guide, um, it has it
on here as well.
They did just change up theirzones last year, so Mount
Pleasant is in Zone B.
There are three houses in MountPleasant that are in Zone A I'm
(13:40):
not sure which one that is.
But if you go to the SEMDwebsite and click Know your Zone
, you can physically type youraddress in and it will pop up.
It'll say Zone B, zone C, d, andthen after that they do have
the maps within the state guidethat you can get over at the
town if you would like.
They also have it online andthat tells you the routes that
(14:07):
you need to go.
And so if they're saying zone Aevacuate first, you're going to
go the route that they tell youto go.
And I always tell people go theroute that they ask you to go,
because you don't want to getstuck on those side roads if
there's flooding or if there's atree.
Right, you know you.
You want to make sure thatyou're you're going the route
that they suggest, just becausethey they plan this, you know
all the time.
But um, but yeah, that's kind ofhow you can find the
(14:28):
information and know which routeyou need to go to and stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Is it real time so that they know if there's
flooding coming, that type ofthing?
Yeah, so they kind of plan forall of this they do Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So they actually have exercises where they change the
routes?
Huh Well, not necessarilychange the routes, I'm sorry,
but do the interstate whereeverybody can go in one
direction?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, I just downloaded the SC Emergency
Manager app.
Okay, you can get that at SC.
What is it?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
SEMD.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah org.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah, listeners, do that.
It's really easy.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
And it might save your life one day.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Look at us saving lives right now.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah, absolutely, saving lives and keeping our
businesses strong.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
That's right, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Building business yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
There was this cool.
Where can they get one of thesehandy dandy thingies?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, so you can actually get the state guide
over at the town hall Town hallAt 100 Ann Edwards Lane here in
Mount Pleasant and you can askfor one, or you can just ask for
myself.
Shannon Whitehead and I canbring some down for you.
But you can also go online.
They have them online as wellon the SEMD website.
You can have your own PDF fileor anything that you need.
(15:43):
You could probably also go toCharleston County's website as
well.
They have their own guide andthen they also have the state
guide on there as well okay yeah, but in the charleston county
guide they actually have, um,the bus stops where you could go
in case, for some reason, ifyou are unable to leave.
(16:03):
I always tell people to leavewhen they kind of heed, warning
that you should go and make surethat you keep an eye on the
path of the storm, but using theinformation that's provided
from you, from experts, becauseI'm not a meteorologist by any
means but if some reason yourcar breaks down or it's the last
minute and you've got to go toa shelter, there are actual bus
(16:27):
stops where you can go to get onthe bus to go to the shelter,
or they have that.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Charleston.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
County to let you know where they're at as well.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So it sounds like kind of keeping those resources
online, you know available, likepulling down the apps, getting
ahead of it.
Yeah, when talking about ourfur babies, do all shelters
allow pets, or how do you figurethat out?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So obviously so we don't have shelters on the
coastal areas, because you know,people have to leave.
Yeah, so they start to do themin the North Charleston area and
Charleston County.
Along with the state theycoordinate those efforts to see,
okay, what shelters can we have, Like normally they're schools,
but they do other buildings aswell.
(17:09):
I know last year there was ashelter that did allow pets as
well.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Okay, Any advice for someone out there who we've
talked about children, butperhaps have a parent, they've
got to, also a loved one who iselderly and needs assistance, or
maybe they have some dementiarelated issues.
Any advice for that, for thatperson?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, that's a good question.
So there is.
I actually have a pamphlet too.
It's called Senior Prep.
Okay, but you can go online.
So just senior and then prep.
They have a lot of goodinformation.
They did have an expo, and Ithink they do it every year.
(17:47):
They just recently had it acouple months ago at the North
Charleston Coliseum, for theseniors to come out and learn
what's available to them and howthey can, because a lot of
people too are in, you know,assisted living facilities and
whatnot.
So my best advice, too is, ifyou have a parent that you're
help taking care of or anyonewith disabilities, just kind of
(18:09):
getting those numbers prepared.
You can also get it on the semdwebsite too.
But the senior prep, they havea lot of good information for
everyone.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So we've actually started an aging connections
program, mike, uh, for ourchamber members that provide
senior services.
So I'll get with you, shannon.
I'd like to have thatinformation available, and
certainly the chamber officewe'd love to have.
Yeah, some of that informationtoo, so that, um, we're at 534
johnny dawes boulevard suite 101.
(18:39):
We'd love for y'all to comevisit us at the chamber office,
but we'll have that as well.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Um, this has been a great conversation, thank you so
much, yeah, and we'll put asmany notes as we can, too, in
our show notes so all the dotcoms website contact info.
We can put in our show notes aswell, so yeah, that'd be great
uh, yeah, thanks for the time,shannon yeah, thanks for having
me.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I appreciate it.
You know, just like I telleverybody, just make sure you're
prepared, and you know it onlytakes one storm, um, you know,
especially like hurricane erin.
It went from a category one tocat five and 24 hours, which is
called rapid intensification.
So you know, just make surethat you have everything ready
to go and that you know yourzone and have a plan to where
(19:21):
you're going to.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And you can find Shannon at tonpsccom down on the
Mount Pleasant website.
Very good, thank you,appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Thank you.
Thank you, rebecca, thanks tothe Charleston media solutions
as well, and the mount pleasantchamber.
We'll, uh, we'll talk to younext time, mount pleasant thank
you so much.
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