ORANGEBURG, S.C. — A microburst on July 30 damaged the City of Orangeburg. Buildings had their windows blown out, roofs blown off, and bricks crumbled.
Two weeks later, the city is almost back to normal, with traffic flowing smoothly through Broughton Street.
Billy Staley, the director of Emergency Services for Orangeburg County, said the clean-up of Broughton Street went quickly.
“The city went through their process with the engineers for the building that had the clean up delayed because it had some hanging debris," said Staley. "That process went fine, and they were able to get the roads cleared out.”
However, a wall crumbled at the historic Mirmow Field baseball stadium, and the city is still repairing it.
Staley said residents should always have a plan in place.
“The biggest lesson that I can push to everybody - always have a plan, and always watch the weather because you never know when these microbursts will occur in a thunderstorm," said Staley. "They can happen in any thunderstorm, but you never know, and it can be just as violent and just as deadly as a tornado.”
Orangeburg Emergency Management asks residents who have suffered damage from Tropical Storm Debby to report it to the county.