ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — In an effort to keep students and teachers ahead of the storm, the Orangeburg County School District will have early dismissal Wednesday August 30 and will operate on a two hour delay for Thursday August 31.
Crews with Orangeburg Emergency Services spent the day making sure storm drains were open to deal with the expected heavy rain. They will also be on stand by for the possibility of down trees and powerlines.
Bill Staley, the director of Emergency Services said residents need to be prepared, especially those in low-lying areas.
“We have a lot of low-lying areas in Orangeburg," said Staley. "We want to encourage our citizens to make sure they have a plan. Don’t drive through flooded waters, don’t drive through flooded roads. Make sure you have a plan, if you don’t have to be out in the peak of the storm when it’s raining large quantities of water at one time. Don’t go out at that time. Schedule what you need to do so that you are home and you are safe whenever the severe parts of this weather comes in.”
The city of Orangeburg also met with the Office of Emergency Services to discuss preparation plans. Jennifer Van Cleave, the city's PIO says that they are still monitoring the storm.
“Right now we’re just on standby," says Van Cleave. "We’re monitoring the storm and we’ll make changes as necessary. We want to do what we can to serve our residents and make sure we that we are prepared to help them out incase there is an emergency such as trees down that sort of thing. We will be there to respond.”
"Have plans to be in a different location," said Staley if you are living in low lying areas. "It maybe a church, it may be at a friends house, maybe a family members house for that little bit of time for when the water comes up and when the water goes down. We’re expecting anywhere from 5 to 8 inches of rainfall across our county and that could be in a short duration of time. So we end up with areas that get flooded for a short period of time. Hour, 2 hours, 3 hours until the water runs off. So those are things you kind of just want to watch.”
The Office of Emergency Services is asking for residents to have readiness plans and to avoid driving and being outside in inclement weather.