Officials Gather Aftermath Of Hurricane Matthew

By Betsy Finklea
A meeting of county, municipal, Red Cross, and Harbor Freight Tools officials was held last Wednesday to discuss what everyone had been experiencing since Hurricane Matthew.
Latta Town Administrator Jarett Taylor said that Latta really doesn’t have flood plans, but from about 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m., a town that normally doesn’t flood did. Taylor said at one point he was in water right below his chest pulling people out of houses. Taylor said his experience with Hurricane Matthew had been life-changing.
Interim Dillon County Administrator Rodney Berry talked about empathy versus sympathy. He said he lived on a creek in Marion County. He said he would pick a point in the yard and say that the water wouldn’t come up that far, and as the hurricane progressed, it did.
Before he knew it, he was chest deep in water in his own home and had to call the fire department to get his significant other out. He swam out with the water up to his neck. He kayaked into his home two days before the meeting to get four days of clothes. He said he empathizes with what he has seen. Berry said the hurricane had caused complete devastation. He said many people can’t pay their deductibles.
Berry said they had gotten a loose grip on everyone’s safety and security and had called in assets. He said he felt comfortable where they were at this point. He also spoke about the mental damage that people suffered. He said they had never seen anything like this.
Lake View’s Mayor Pro-Tem Matthew Elvington said the main route to the beach was blocked. He said due to the location of where their power came from, it could be quite a while before Lake View would have power. (Editor’s note: It was restored this weekend.)
Louise Welch-Williams, Regional CEO for the Red Cross in South Carolina, talked about Red Cross shelters in schools with generators.
Richard Schafer, Red Cross volunteer and Dillon County Board of Education Chairman, said as of Wednesday, there were a number of schools with no power and water damage. They could not run buses due to the status of the roads. No decisions had been made about school at the time of this meeting.
Haywood Proctor, chairman of the Dillon County Public-Private Partnership and pastor at Kemper Baptist Church, said in the Lake View area that people couldn’t cook; there was no power; and some water had been cut off. He said people didn’t want to leave their homes.
Welch-Williams said they could get food and water to Lake View. “We can make that happen,” said Welch-Williams, who stressed that they had to be careful where they put people and supplies because of rising water.
Taylor said in Latta about 50 people were displaced. He said many were elderly and didn’t have paychecks. He said they needed people to talk to them about the resources available to them.
Harbor Freight officials spoke about the effect the hurricane has had on their employees. It was noted that Harbor Freight was a supporter of the Red Cross.

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