Advertisement

Sun, surf, and perhaps storms: Computer sites help SC visitors find the beach, escape storms

The Associated Press
May 31, 2015 at 5:30PM

CHARLESTON, S.C. — With the summer tourist season underway on the South Carolina coast, millions will flock to the shore for a season of sun, surf and perhaps storms. New online sites will help visitors find beach access points along the state's 190 mile coast when it's sunny and evacuation routes when skies turn stormy. A glance at the Summer of '15:

___

Hurricane Season

South Carolina has already seen one storm this season: Tropical Storm Ana made landfall near Myrtle Beach on May 10 with blustery winds and rain. The 2015 Atlantic Hurricane season begins Monday and Gov. Nikki Haley has declared this week Hurricane Awareness Week. She says coastal residents should prepare because many have never experienced a major hurricane and may not understand the impacts.

___

Being Prepared

The state Emergency Management Division is releasing its annual hurricane guide in Sunday coastal newspapers and at Department of Motor Vehicle Offices in coastal counties. It can be downloaded at www.scemd.org . The "Know Your Zone" section of the site includes an interactive map with evacuation routes and links to county emergency management pages. Evacuation routes are also available at the state Department of Transportation site (www.dot.state.sc.us ).

___

Advertisement
Advertisement

When No Storm Clouds are in Sight

It's easier this summer to find your way to the beach with the Department of Health and Environmental Control's new public beach access application. The site (gis.dhec.sc.gov/beachaccess ) lists all 620 public beach access points along South Carolina's almost 190 miles of coastline. It also lets visitors search for access points in specific towns or with specific amenities such as parking, restrooms or that are accessible to the disabled.

___

Record Year Expected

Summer is the busiest time for South Carolina's $18 billion tourism industry and a strong economy and low gas prices are expected to mean another record year. The numbers so far look good. On Hilton Head Island, for example, figures from Smith Travel Research show that, through the end of March hotel, home and villa occupancy was up 11 percent while the average daily rate charged was up almost 5 percent from the same period last year.

___

Advertisement

Charleston Still Cooking

The summer heat and humidity may make it a bit oppressive for sightseeing in Charleston's historic district. But restaurants have air conditioning and the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau notes that a dozen new ones have opened in the city in just the past three months alone.

Advertisement
about the writer

about the writer

BRUCE SMITH

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.

Advertisement
Advertisement