Hurricane Dorian didn’t make landfall in SC, but it will cost the state millions anyway
A little more than two months after the Hurricane Dorian skirted along the South Carolina coast, the storm’s costs are being finalized.
Dorian cost the state of South Carolina about $41 million in disaster-related spending, state emergency officials said this week.
“(That cost) will change over the next several months as we validate those numbers. It’s (similar to) what the costs were for Hurricane Irma,” said Kim Stenson, the director of the S.C. Emergency Management Division.
The $41 million includes both state and local government costs, which could eventually be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s public assistance program. Ultimately, FEMA reimburses up to 75% of costs, which could mean about $30.75 million for Dorian.
FEMA has declared disasters and approved assistance for costs in Allendale, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dillon, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry, Jasper, Marion, and Williamsburg counties.
FEMA may help cover costs related to debris removal, emergency protective measures, damage to roads and bridges, water control facilities, public buildings and equipment, utilities and damage to parks and recreational facilities. FEMA also helps pay for costs of public employee overtime.
During a recent cabinet meeting with Gov. Henry McMaster, Stenson said there were no systemic failures during the state’s response to the storm. But he added that the state could improve at making sure coastal residents follow evacuation orders.
“One area we probably need to improve on is the evacuation compliance rate,” Stenson said. “We were at 50 percent on that. We feel we need to do better there.”
Derrec Becker, a spokesman at EMD, said evacuation compliance was on par with two recent hurricanes, Matthew and Florence. He also said Dorian was a lower category as it approached the Carolinas. It was a category 3 hurricane, which is still considered a major hurricane. As it skirted the coast it was downgraded to a category 2 hurricane.
He said the agency would continue to stress the need for people to heed evacuation orders when they come.
“Anytime the governor issues an evacuation order, it’s with people’s safety in mind,” Becker said.
Even though the center of the storm stayed mostly off the S.C. coast, it did cause flooding in parts of the Palmetto State.
Much of the debris removal was closer to the coast, Becker said.
Becker cautioned it may be a long while before the money comes from FEMA, as the state is still working on getting reimbursements from previous disasters in recent years, such as the historic 2015 flood. FEMA is still completing damage assessments in South Carolina for Dorian.
“It’s a long process. It’s not an overnight process, it’s not a fast process,” Becker said.
Horry County Emergency Management spokesman Thomas Bell said the bulk of Horry County’s Dorian costs were related to putting resources and staff in place ahead of the storm.
“In terms of past few storms we’ve had ... Dorian was the best outcome we’ve seen in terms of damage and preparation,” Bell said. “It was a smooth ramp up.”
He said evacuation compliance in Horry County was 25 to 40 percent, but said because the storm threatened after Labor Day, most of the tourists had already left.
“With any storm, we would like to see it higher,” Bell said.
He added he wasn’t surprised with the lower evacuation response because landfall wasn’t expected.
The storm also hurt the tourism economy in the state costing $117 million in visitor spending, according to the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the Post and Courier reported.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 11:52 AM.
