Written by By Donald Ray Burger

o ensure a safer hurricane season,The Bluffton Breeze Magazine is offering this comprehensive “To Do” list (in no particular order):

_____ Locate a Hurricane Chart to follow the progress of the storm. Most grocery stores and hardware stores have them.
_____ Fill all gas tanks on cars. If we lose electricity the gas pumps won’t work.
_____ Fill the lawn mower gas can. Unless you have to add oil to your lawn mower gas it can be used as gas for your car.
_____ Check the radiator water in your car.
_____ Check the oil in your car.
_____ Check the windshield wiper fluid in your car. You may need your wipers after the storm passes.
_____ Give some thought to what you will park in your driveway. You don’t want to block your car in behind something else.
_____ Check air in car tires, including spare.
_____ Put a couple of Fix-a-Flat aerosols in car. Downed tree limbs cause flats.
_____Check the air in your bicycle tires. Bikes are great for short trips when gas is in short supply.
_____ Make sure you know how to raise and lower your (electric) garage door if the electricity goes out. Usually there is a red ball one pulls to disengage the gears and allow manual operation. You will need to know how to do this to get your car out of the garage after the storm is over if electricity is still off. If you don’t know how, get a manual or ask a neighbor with a similar garage door.
_____ Bring a ladder inside the house. You don’t want to have to go to a detached garage in the rain when you need it.
_____ Bring tools inside the house (i.e. tin snips, vise grips, pliers, hammer, nails, hack saw, tree saw, pole saw, crow bar, screw drivers).
_____ Move hammer, nails, plywood or tarps inside, where they will be readily accessible to put over broken windows.
_____ Locate rain jackets.
_____ Locate hats (bike helmets offer good head protection from debris).
_____ Bring in safety goggles (driving rain and debris can hurt eyes).
_____ Bring in a box of 30 gallon or larger garbage bags. 1.1 mil is the minimum thickness I recommend.
_____ Bring in plastic sheeting (like painters drop cloths) to cover large valuables (like furniture) in case there are roof leaks or broken windows. Plastic garbage bags (30 gallon and up) can be used in a pinch. As is, they will close over small items. Make sure the tied-off top is not at a position where it will catch water and direct water inside the bag. If you cut the bag at the seams you can have an improvised drop cloth of fairly good size. Also, use duct tape to make a large drop cloth of several garbage bags if you forgot to buy plastic sheets.
_____ Bring drinking/cooking water inside the house. Allow at least 2 gallons per person per day.
_____ Fill bath tub and sinks with water. If the seal on your rubber tub stopper has a slow leak you can put a thin bead of vaseline around the edge of the drain and “seat” the stopper in the vaseline and the leak will be sealed. If the tub has a built-in lever stopper that leaks you will have to buy a rubber one and use it to work around the leak. If you forgot to buy a rubber one a thin piece of rubber (like some jar openers) will work in a pinch.
_____ Put extra ice in freezer. A full freezer retains cold longer. Spoilage starts after one week in unopened freezers even in the absense of electricity. Also, turn the temperature selection to the coldest setting.
_____ Have a “two cooler” plan. One Coleman-type cooler is devoted to food, with just some ice. The other cooler is just bags of ice. One can then get into the “food” cooler without opening the “ice” cooler. This will make the ice in the “ice” cooler last longer.
_____ Fill propane tanks for cooking during power outages.
_____ Check trees to make sure there are no branches within three feet of roof or side of house.
_____ Clean out any rain gutters.
_____ Take down bird feeders.
_____ Take down plants in hanging baskets.
_____ Search yard for small objects wind may blow into house or windows.
_____ Mow your lawn while the grass is dry
_____ Inventory house for insurance purposes. Take pictures and video. There is no need to develop the film unless needed.
_____ Move “stuff” off balconies.
_____ Locate bricks or 2x4’s upon which to raise furniture if rising waters threaten.
_____ Find fuse box so you can turn off electricity if needed. If rising water is getting in your house you need to turn off the electricity at the fuse box to prevent electrical shock. Call the utility company before turning it back on. It can take a long time for the wires to dry out.
_____ Find water cut-off in case pipes break.
_____ Find gas shut-off in case gas line breaks. Remember to have a professional turn the gas back on if you have to turn it off.
_____ If you leave your house, consider turning off the water, electricity and gas. Be aware that if you turn off the gas a professional will have to turn it on again.
_____ Check into flood insurance at least 30 days before a storm. There are waiting periods before flood insurance becomes effective. Think ahead.
_____ Locate all flashlights.
_____ Locate a flourscent flashlight so you can read during blackouts. Regular flashlights provide lousy light for reading.
_____ Recharge all rechargeable batteries.
_____ Charge up your cordless drill and/or cordless screwdriver.
_____ Make sure you have fresh batteries in your transistor radio. A radio with a Weather Alert may be valuable.
_____ Charge up cellular phones and any spare cell phone batteries you have.
_____ Make sure you have a battery-powered black and white TV. You don’t want to be unable to see those “live” reports if you lose electricity.
_____ Make sure you have a book on First Aid.
_____ Make sure your First Aid kit is fully stocked.
_____ Refill any prescriptions, including baby and pet medications.
_____ Get a booster on your tetanus shot in case you step on a nail or cut yourself in the aftermath.
_____ Back up your computer.
_____ Make sure you have a current South Carolina/Georgia map if you have to evacuate.
_____ Get extra cash. Banks and ATMS may stay closed.
_____ If you have to go to a shelter please note that some will not permit firearms, alcohol or pets.
_____ Make a list of important phone numbers and put the list in your wallet or purse.
_____ Get pictures of your family and pets and put them in your wallet or purse. Such pictures will be invaluable if you have to ask for help in locating loved ones.
_____ Designate someone outside this area to act as contact point for friends and relatives inquiring about your safety. Parents are good choices if they live outside the hurricane zone. Then, you can call your parents and everyone else can get information by calling them.
_____ Have an emergency plan where everyone can meet if family members get separated during the hurricane.
_____ Have an out of state contact so everyone in Bluffton will have someone to call and convey where each family member or friend is.

The Hurricane of 1893

The following excerpt is taken from a personal account told by Dr. J. Ward Flagg, about his family’s vacation at Magnolia Beach.

It all happened on the 13th--a bad luck day the 13th--a Friday too, the 13th of October 1893, when the great storm came and made the new Inlet and filled up the old Inlet. . . .

It was ten o’clock in the morning when the terrible storm blew out of the east

. . . all at once it got blacker and blacker so that it was like the middle of the night. The big waves began to come way up the beach, rushing toward the house and we stood, my father and my brother and I, to watch the storm. My father said, “I am afraid we may lose the house.” I got two axes and began tearing away the floors in the piazza . . . so that the rooms downstairs could fill with water and keep the house down. But the roof of the porch caved and I said--Run--everybody--run and swim all to the tree . . . the tree was an old gnarled husky cedar, very strong and spreading. There were fifteen servants . . . my father was 65 but my mother was 60 and she was in her prime. We got to the tree and we all crowded under the spreading branches and held on tight as we could but the water kept sweeping over us and then we would be beaten under again. My little niece was with me and I took a piece of the flooring I had split off and braced her with the nurse’s son in a crotch of the cedar tree. We held on like leeches--lashing (locking our) legs and arms over and around the cedar.

He (my father) put his arms around her (my mother’s) waist and held her up close to him and she put her arms around him right under his arm pits . . . she would try to push him up when the water came and he would get down on the tree and try to push her up. The last time I saw them come up, they were just like always . . . my father had her close in his arms. Maybe they could have gotten out of it if it had not been for a wire fence my father had put around the house. The water came just like a wall around us and the fence wrapped around anybody who tried to swim through it.

All at once, just like it had come on us, the wall of water began to go down again . . . in a little while the tree was not under water and my niece, and my man here and five servants were clinging like leeches. . . . The house was gone and they (my father, brother, and mother) were all gone. . . . It all happened on the 13th of October. . . . It was Friday and Friday the thirteenth is a bad luck day.”