Be Prepared for Severe Weather | Weather

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Weather can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Extremes in weather, such as hurricanes, can be devastating and have a dramatic effect on agriculture and forestry. While summer is peak season for produce in South Carolina, it’s also hurricane season.

The hurricane season officially began on June 1st, but even before that several tropical storms and fronts developed off the coast of South Carolina that have had an impact on the state. Prior to Tropical Storm Beryl and a series of frontal boundaries which helped bring some desperately needed moisture, every county in South Carolina was classified in a moderate drought except for a few along the Georgia border. Those counties were classified as severe, the third level of drought.

On June 6, the S.C. Drought Response Committee agreed to lower the drought status for most of the counties in the state except Abbeville, McCormick, Edgefield and Aiken in the Savannah River Basin, which remain at severe. Oconee, Pickens and Anderson counties were downgraded to moderate. Saluda, Greenwood, Greenville, Newberry, Laurens, and Lexington counties remain at moderate. All other counties in the state were lowered to the incipient level of drought.

While those early storms were beneficial, they give us fair warning that this may be the year for hurricanes. Commissioner Hugh Weathers urges us all – farmers and non-farmers – to be prepared for any severe weather that may arise.

First and foremost is protecting human life. Visit the SC Emergency Management Division at www.scemd.org and download the S.C. Hurricane Guide which includes important information to use before, during, and after hurricane threats.

For information about livestock emergency preparation, visit Clemson Livestock and Poultry Health’s web site and click on emergency preparation under animal health.

For equine emergency evacuation information, check out www.agriculture.sc.gov/scequineindustry before an emergency arises.