Live update for Thursday: Hilton Head Island state of emergency lifted
Hilton Head state of emergency lifted
Updated 1:44 p.m.
Hilton Head Island’s state of emergency is lifted and town facilities will open tomorrow.
- Blake Douglas / bdouglas@islandpacket.com
City of Beaufort trash and debris pick-up information
Updated 12:57 p.m.
On Thursday, city crews were working to clear debris in public roadways and rights-of-way throughout the city, Public Works Director Nate Farrow said. That work will continue on Friday.
The city announced Thursday that the Public Works Department will do a one-time sweep in Beaufort to pick up excess yard debris caused by the storm beginning Tuesday, Sept. 5, through Friday, Sept. 8.
Yard debris must be placed next to the roadway by Tuesday morning, Sept. 5. Residents should not put the debris near or next to utility boxes or poles, fire hydrants or under tree canopies, the city said, because the department’s knuckle boom truck must be able to reach the debris.
There’s been no major blockage of ditches and drains, Farrow said. Public Works cleaned out many of those areas before Tropical Storm Idalia came through Wednesday evening, leaving very little water accumulation on streets.
Power was knocked out in some areas which affected the traffic light at First Boulevard and Ribaut Road.
Capital Waste Services was planning to picking up trash and recycling from its Wednesday routes, which were canceled, on Thursday, the city said. It will pick up the Thursday routes on Friday, and complete Friday routes on Saturday.
-Karl Puckett / kapuckett@islandpacket.com
All trees blocking public roads cleared in Bluffton
Updated 12:50 p.m.
There wasn’t too much damage from Idalia in Bluffton. The Bluffton Township Fire District were only called 10 times between 1 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Wednesday about fallen trees or debris, according to the Fire District’s spokesperson Stephen Combs.
As of noon on Thursday, all trees that were blocking roads were cleared, said Combs. However, Combs noted that the fire department does not have authority in gated communities and trees may still be blocking roads in them.
- Sebastian Lee / slee@islandpacket.com
-Sarah Claire McDonald / smcdonald@islandpacket.com
Some power outages remain
Updated 11:21 a.m.
Dominion Energy spokesman Paul Fischer told The Island Packet customers still experiencing outages in Beaufort and Jasper Counties should expect power to be restored throughout the day, and most remaining issues will be rectified before Friday.
Initial assessments of damage on Daufuskie Island indicated “severe damage,” Fischer said, which could delay restoration of electricity by “one or more days” as crews work to transport personnel and gear to the island.
“Some customers’ equipment may not be capable of receiving power due to damage at their property, particularly the weatherhead or meter can. Customers should contact a certified electrician to make those repairs,” Fischer added.
Fischer said there remain about 1,800 Dominion customers without power in Beaufort county, and just under 900 in Jasper County. Statewide, there are about 11,506 residents without electricity, according to poweroutage.us.
- Blake Douglas / bdouglas@islandpacket.com
Beaufort County schools to reopen Friday
Updated 10:13 a.m.
The school district cleared facilities for return to normal operations Friday.
- Mary Dimitrov / mdimitrov@islandpacket.com
Burton fire crews respond to trees and wires down
Updated 8 a.m.
Burton fire crews responded to calls for trees and wires down, sparking and smoking wires, and burning transformers.
Burton fire officials state that the most serious calls involved large trees and live wires blocking roadways and preventing access to some areas, but no injuries or major damages to structures were reported as of this morning
-Karl Puckett / kapuckett@islandpacket.com
66 mph gusts, 3.5 inches of rain, Idalia spared Beaufort County
Updated 7:45 a.m.
As of early Thursday morning, the center of Idalia moved into coastal North Carolina after lashing the South Carolina’s Lowcountry with high winds and high water throughout Wednesday.
In their 6 a.m. briefing, The National Weather Service in Charleston said the storm will continue its progression to the east northeast through the next several days. No impacts are expected from the storm today in South Carolina.
In Beaufort County, the storm left a trail of downed trees and coastal storm surge flooding, including Sands Beach in Port Royal, but no major damage had been reported as of early Thursday morning.
Peter Mohlin, a Weather Service meteorologist, said Idalia passed Beaufort County Wednesday evening and onto the Charleston area by late evening before moving north of the Santee River after midnight
The storm produced quite a bit of wind damage with most of those reports in northern Colleton, Dorchester and Jasper counties in South Carolina and Chatham County in Georgia, Mohlin said.
The highest rainfall amounts were 6 to 10 inches in the Statesboro area of Georgia.
The Weather Service had received one rain report of 3.57 inches of Beaufort County as of early Thursday morning with rainfall amounts in South Carolina ranging from 3 to 5 inches.
The highest Lowcountry wind report was 69 mph on south Tybee Island in Georgia and locally gusts reported in Beaufort County was recorded at 66 mph.
Storm surge of 2 to 4 feet was reported from Hunting Island in northern Beaufort County through the Charleston area where “It produced a substantial storm surge but north of Hilton Head island,” Mohlin said.
On Wednesday morning around dawn, Idalia stormed ashore near Keaton Beach, FL and started an overland march toward Beaufort County, some 300 miles due northeast. Along the way up the southeast coast, the major hurricane jogged east and west, destroying homes, knocking out power to thousands and causing catastrophic destruction that will likely end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars and countless heartbreaking moments for residents and business owners.
Along the path from western Florida to southeastern South Carolina the storm defied many of the computer models, hugging an inland path and, as a surprise to many experts, largely spared Beaufort County the destruction delivered in places like Cedar Key, Perry and Horseshoe Beach in Florida, Valdosta, Georgia and Santee, South Carolina.
In Beaufort County, several trees were knocked into homes and others felled by moderate winds and wet soil blocked passage on a handful of roads. Water rose on the coastline and in the local rivers, lakes and ponds.
This morning’s cursory dawn survey shows more than enough mess to make the cleanup last for weeks - but the worst was largely avoided.
-Karl Puckett / kapuckett@islandpacket.com
