The journey starts here. Explore the Lowcountry’s lifestyle and culture.
Hi, John Weber, Charter One Realty here in the Lowcountry and I thought I would make a video. We’ve got that tropical storm Isaias off the coast. You can see where I’m standing right now in relation to the storm. But the name of this video is how to survive a hurricane in the Lowcountry the smart way. So, how to survive a hurricane in the Lowcountry, South Carolina, the coastal area, the smart way:
I’ve been through a lot of hurricanes through the years, we’ve evacuated, we’ve stayed. We’ve done all kinds of things. And in no way am I telling anybody during this or that’s watching this video to put their life in danger, to not evacuate, that’s not the point of this. The point of this is to share some wisdom that I’ve been through so many of these things.
If you look at the coastline of the United States, it pretty much runs from Cape Cod all the way around Florida, all the way around Texas, Louisiana ends up in Mexico. It’s a pretty large coastline. So the Hilton Head area, Bluffton area is not the only place where storms may come. They may come anywhere, New Jersey or New York, it doesn’t matter. The storms are not going away. That’s pretty evident. So, what I thought I would do is give you my five key points on how to survive a hurricane the smart way.
Point number one, educate. Okay, you really need to know what you’re dealing with. If you’re going to live on the coastline anywhere in the United States, let’s say you’re from Iowa or Michigan or something like that and you’re just not used to this. You need to get educated. This storm that I’m standing in right now is Isaias, this is August 3rd, 2020. And this storm is off our coast and traveling North of the coastline of the United States.
This is a tropical storm. These storms start with tropical depressions. Then they go to a tropical storm. Tropical storms can go up to 73 miles an hour sustained winds. After that, it’s going to turn into a hurricane category one. Category one hurricane, 74 to 95 miles an hour sustained winds. I’ve been in a category one hurricane. It’s not pretty. I mean, it can tear you up. It’s pretty bad. But a lot of times it’s just a windy, rainy, nasty storm like this. This is just a rainy storm.
Category two, 96 to 110 miles an hour sustained winds. Category two can be pretty serious. Category three, four, and five are all major hurricane status. Hurricane category 3, 111 miles an hour up to 129. Category four is 130 up to 156. Category five is 157 miles per hour or higher. Anytime these major storms are coming at you and you’ll see the models that they put on TV are all very, very good. When it looks like it’s coming right to you, you have got to go. That’s all there is to it. Board the place up and just get in the car and go.
Now here’s how we do it. If that storm’s looking like it’s coming right here, we’re going to get a hotel room in Augusta, Atlanta, anywhere West, a few hours West. And we get that hotel room and we secure it. And then we wait. Because hurricanes are so unpredictable. It’s unbelievable. Their little lines go like this and they’ll turn on a dime and just go the other way. It’s so weird, but they are very unpredictable. So if you wait and then they do a mandatory evacuation for like Buford County, which they have, they did it last year. You’re going to get in your car and you’re going to get into a sea of humanity. And everybody’s going to be making reservations in hotels. You can’t get in. So make your hotel reservation early and then sit and wait. You got the room, you’re in good shape.
Number two, prepare. Okay, you’ve got to fill the car up with gas, have flashlights, batteries. This is hurricane season for us, August, September, that’s the bell curve of the hurricanes. So just to have a plan, just in case it comes, it may not happen at all, but you’ve got to have a plan and prepare.
Number three is be aware. You have got to be aware of your surroundings. You’ve got to watch TV, watch the news. Watch Jim Cantore at The Weather station. I’ve watched that guy for years. And just be aware of what’s going on because you just can’t look up and go, “Gee, is it coming here tonight? I didn’t know that.” You can’t do that. You got to be aware of it. So number three is be aware.
Number four is action. Get that hotel room secured early. If it goes the other way, you just call them up and cancel. It’s easy. Action – you’re going to have to decide if it’s just coming near you. Like you see the graphic here on the screen (see YouTube video). That was Matthew. And I mean, it was pretty intense around here. That was a category three hurricane. And we lost a lot of trees, had a lot of damage around here, but we decided to stay. So we went to our gated community, walked up to security and said, “Well, gee, can we stay?” And they said, “Sure, you’re on your own.” And I went, “What exactly does that mean?” And he looked at me and goes, “You’re on your own.” I went, “Okay, got it, got it – on our own.”
So anyway, if you decide to stay, guess what? You’re on your own. So if you decide to leave, which many, many times is the best way to go, you’re going to get in the traffic. You’re going to go to your hotel room. And I got news for you. Getting back is no fun either, because everybody’s coming back. If you stay, it’s like the minute the storm’s gone, boom, it’s a beautiful day. So it’s like the weirdest thing ever. You watch TV, they’re going to tell you and they have to, they have to tell you, these storms are coming. There are so many people. If it gets bad and close to you, they have to evacuate. They just have to. So that’s a judgment call on your part, if you’re going to stay or go.
But last year, with Dorian, this is the graphic where that blue dot is (see YouTube video), my wife said, “I’m going to California to visit our daughter. You’ve got the pets. See you later!” So I gutted that out alone. And there was actually an evacuation of Beaufort County. So I stayed with the dog and the cat. Good times with that.
Anyway, the last one is keeping your wits about you. You’ve got to keep your wits about you. You’re not going to die in spite of all of the news, “it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming.” “You’re going to die if you stay” and all of that – you can figure it out. You’ll get your hotel room. You’ll leave if it’s coming right at you. If it’s going to be a brush by, that’s fine, but you’re going to have to make a judgment call: evacuate or not evacuate. But I can tell you a hurricane could wipe you out. It’s going to have to be a direct hit type of situation. So other than that, you see, it’s a windy, rainy, nasty storm, but you have to be aware of everything.
So educate, prepare, aware, action, and keep your wits about you. That’s what we’ve used for over 20 years living in hurricane zones in Florida, the Carolina coastline, it’s just part of living in a paradise. It really is. I’ll take this over 10 inches of snow all day long! I’d keep going, but I don’t think the heavy stuff’s coming down for quite a while. So come on down to the Lowcountry. If you’re new to my channel, please subscribe. You can also get my free ultimate guide to Lowcountry Real Estate, it has all of the fees, the pricing, and everything else. I put that link down below and you can download that. It’s free! A nice resource for you. Anyway, come down and see me, John Weber, in the Lowcountry and we’ll see you on a rainy day – maybe to find your dream home.
Okay. I just had this great idea. I’ve had clients call me, friends, family. How was the storm down there? Today’s August 3rd (sunny!). I shot that video in exactly the same spot, I’ve gotten rid of the rain coat, put my red pebble beach golf hat on. Now we’re going to get into the important stuff. The storm’s gone, so we’re going to play golf now. This is the way it goes down here, storms come in, all of a sudden it’s gone and we’re back doing the important things. *Golf Swing* Not bad. I think that’s good.
