Category: Weather

Power Outages Wednesday, May 4

SCE&G has reported power outages in several Charleston areas.  Among them are areas from West Ashley to Summerville.

They are saying the outages should be fixed by 10:00 am this morning, but if you have an appointment or are running errands in these areas you may want to check to see if they are open.

Channel 5 News has an outage map that you can put in the phone number of where you are going.  Go to http://www.live5news.com/story/31885347/hundreds-wake-up-without-power-after-severe-weather-in-the-lowcountry

Sumitted by Tidelines

Tech Forum: Emergency Information

Available Technology:

The technology that is used to facilitate gathering and sharing information included:

  1. Smart Phones: These phones allow access to the internet and a wide variety of applications that provide traffic, weather and emergency information.
  2. Flip phones are limited to accepting text messages; they do not support applications (apps) that provide emergency data.
  3. Computers – fully functional access to applications
  4. Tablets – fully functional access to applications
  5. Telephone- land lines. Accept only voice messages—CodeRED.TechForum

In all cases, it was stressed that the operating system, be it IOS, Android, Windows or an Apple OS, should be kept up to date.  Out of date systems will often result in failures in applications.

Available Sources: 

The discussion focused on the web sites and apps that provide weather, traffic and emergency information.

Web Sites:

  1. Local TV station web sites: Live5News.com, abcnews.com, etc.
  2. Weather.NOAA.gov
  3. Tidelinesblog.com
  4. SCDOT.gov   (Twitter hash tag= SCDOTpress)
  5. Waze.com
  6. TotalTraffic.com (for accident reports)
  7. Charles County Sheriff’s Office: http://www.ccso.charlestoncounty.gov
  8. TownofSeabrookIsland.org (Twittter hash tag =@SeabrookIsland87)
  9. Town of Seabrook Island toll free number: 1 800-764-8404
  10. CodeRED (Town of Seabrook Island)
  11. SIPOA Email-blast  and website: SIPOA.org

Apps:  (Available for both IOS and Android unless indicated):

  1. Live5Weather
  2. Waze(requires active GPS, collects and distributes public comments)
  3. Hurricainehub
  4. iHeartradio
  5. Total Traffic
  6. Scanner apps that mimic a radio canner – “5-0 Police Radio Scanner” for iPhone and iPad.” and “Scanner Radio” for Android for example. These apps transmit all the ‘chatter’ on the ‘air’; emergency information will be mixed with all other radio traffic.(Search the web for Police Scanner Apps.)
  7. Twitter – especially the Charleston County Sheriff office, CHSWS, @FreshfiledsVillage, National Weather Service
  8. Facebook was mentioned, but discussion indicated that Facebook information is generally not immediate.
  9. RSS feeds. A RSS feed Reader app (free) can be installed to facilitate “push” notification of emergency data from an app—like Tidelines where a notice is sent to you immediately. E-mail notices from Tidelines are generally received as  “pull” messages—the user has to go and get – or pull- the e-mail.

Other sources:

SIPOA receives notices from: (Examples)

  1. Seabrook Utility Commission (in case of drinking water hazards and flood water overflows)
  2. Fire Department of( road hazards on Seabrook that may interfere with rescue/emergency services; requests to stay off the roads unless travel is essential)
  3. Berkeley Electric of (dangerous electrical conditions—water in transformers).

These notices are posted to Tidelines and are sent to subscribers to the SIPOAE-mail blast.

Submitted by Lynn Kennedy

Emergency Information: Survey and Forum

SIPOA is investigating “lessons learned” regarding sources and accessibility of weather and road condition emergency information during the weather emergency of October 3-6 and the “King Tides” in late October/early November.

We know that residents used a number of sources and devices to stay up to date during these events. As we plan for future events, we are engaging in a two-part initiative to assess your needs and assist you with the use of available technologies.

Survey:
First, we’d like to know more about how you got information during the October/November events. We ask anyone who was keeping track of weather and traffic information at the time to take the following short survey.
SURVEY:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SIPOAemergencycommunications

This Monday: Forum
Second, we invite you to join us this Monday, December 7 at 6:00 pm at the Lake House for an Emergency Information Tech Forum. The forum will cover a wide range of sources and applications for emergency information, such as Waze, Tidelines, Live 5 Weather/News, CodeRED, NOAA, and more. In addition, we’ll discuss how keeping your operating system up to date can help you make better use of available technologies. Chad Droze from CompuExperts will be on hand to answer technical questions.

Let us help you make the most of your devices during these weather events. This is especially important going forward, as more record tides are expected in December and January.

—Shawna Jarrett, SIPOA

King Tides Are Back

We have more king tides hitting Seabrook Island starting Sunday, Nov 22, and continuing all week through next Sunday.  These may cause localized flooding in the area and on the roads.  Watch for alerts from the Town of Seabrook, SIPOA and Tidelines as well as other local media.  If you find spots with high water making the streets impassable or nearly impassable or closed, please send Tidelines a report via email at seabrookislandblog@gmail.com.  Please include your name on your report and the time when you witnessed the problem.  Do not drive through water of unknown depth!

Here is a link to a website that shows the tidal times and size of the tide for Deveaux Bank, which is directly off shore from the Pelican’s Nest and therefore the closest to Seabrook Island:   http://tides.willyweather.com/sc/charleston-county/deveaux-bank.html

Here are the high tides for each day with the morning tides expected to be the highest:

Sunday  Nov 22         3:55 a.m.      4:26 p.m.
Monday Nov 23         4:54 a.m.       5:24 p.m.
Tuesday Nov 24        5:51 a.m.       6:20 p.m.
Wednesday Nov 25   6:44 am.        7:12 p.m.
Thursday Nov 26       7:35 a.m.       8:02 p.m.
Friday Nov 27            8:24 a.m.       8:52 p.m.
Saturday Nov 28       9:13 a.m.        9:43 p.m.
Sunday Nov 29        10:03 a.m.

Submitted by Tidelines Staff

Flash Flood Watch until 7pm tonight (Monday)

The National Weather Service for Charleston County has posted a flash flood watch (sudden flooding is possible) for the zone including Charleston County effective until 7:00 pm, Monday, 9 November. Showers are forecast to continue throughout the day 9 November and may be heavy at times.

-Submitted by John Gregg

(Tidelines Editor Comment:  My apologies for getting this out so late.)

King Tide Impact on North Beach

For those shut in by the storm and the king tide that are interested in the impact on our beach, here are two pictures taken from just south of Boardwalk #6 at 9:30 a.m. this morning.  Several weeks ago we had 200-300 feet of dry sand beach in this area.  Today it is more like 50-100 feet.

Submitted by Bill Nelson

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Seabrook Island CodeRED Flood Warning

10/28/2015 10:17:53 AM EST – This is a CodeRED weather update on Wednesday, October 28th. Please be advised Seabrook Island road has heavy flooding once again from Bohicket Marina to the roundabout. Approximately 2 plus feet of water on the roadway, if possible please avoid this area until the tide subsides over the next several hours.

Submitted by the Town of Seabrook Island