Tropical Storm Ernesto
The low country of South Carolina was threatened by Tropical Storm Ernesto today. The storm behaved pretty much as was predicted by the weather forecasters. It came across Florida and regained some strength in the Atlantic before making its way up towards the coast of the Carolinas. I live about 20 miles inland from downtown Charleston, SC. The storm seems to have decided to pass by Charleston for the most part and will likely move inland again near the SC/NC state line. Charleston and the surrounding area has received some moderate rainfall and some light winds.
The funny thing about this storm is how critical people can be over how the government reacted. For the most part this storm has been a non-event for the Charleston area, but the American Red Cross, local, and state emergency agencies have taken this storm seriously. The shelters where open in a timely manner and they even went as far as to offer a voluntary evacuation for some areas. That has sparked some criticism from local residents as reported by the local media. Some folks are saying that these agencies overreacted.
I say that the emergency response teams have done a fine job preparing for this storm. There is no way to know for sure if one of these storms will strengthen to hurricane strength and turn in on your town at the last minute. These folks have done a fine job of standing up shelters and preparing for the worse while hoping for the best. I commend these folks for a fine job. Thank God we can look at this storm as mostly a drill instead of a real emergency for the Charleston area.