The Opinion Blog

Remain Ready for Storms

Thursday’s editorial warns that while summer has passed without a catastrophic storm, the 2009 hurricane season is not yet over.

Complacency seems as though it is neutral but it can be a powerful negative force, especially with regard to hurricane preparedness. So with six weeks remaining in the 2009 hurricane season, it's timely for both Georgetown and Horry emergency preparedness officials to talk about the dangers of complacency.

Preparing for the Storm

Friday's editorial urges support for a hurricane-research bill moving through the U.S. Senate:

The 2009 hurricane season's second tropical depression is now creeping west across the Atlantic, poised to begin soaking the Caribbean by early next week.

It's still too early to know whether the storm - as yet unnamed - will pose any threat to the Grand Strand, but it's a good reminder that we're now approaching the August-September peak of hurricane season: The anniversaries of hurricanes Hugo and Floyd, for example, are only a month away.

McMaster: Watch those price hikes, gas retailers

From the afternoon e-mail ... S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster warns gasoline retailers he's on the lookout for price gouging attributable to Hurricane Ike:

Columbia, S.C. - September 12, 2008 As of noon today, September 12, 2008, Attorney General McMaster has invoked the state's price gouging prohibition statute and issued the following statement:

"President Bush has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana and Texas due to Hurricane Ike. Pursuant to SC Code Section 39-5-145, the attorney general now gives notice of an "abnormal disruption of the market" for gasoline and other petroleum products in South Carolina.

Slash through wildlife refuge with storm escape road?

Today's editorial notes that the incoming Atlantic storms could give us a quick answer on whether the proposed Southern Evacuation Life Line road is really needed:

Is it really a good idea to build a South Strand evacuation route from S.C. 707 to S.C. 22, straight across the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge? We may get an answer to that question sooner than some local folks would like.