Educate me about South Carolina

Toyman01 wrote: Hurricanes aren't a worry as far as I'm concerned. In the 45 years I've lived here we have had exactly one that was bad and that was 23 years ago. I was living about 2 miles from the ocean at the time. The biggest problem we had was a lack of ice and hot water. Granted there were a lot people that had major damage, but most of them lived 2' above sea level and got flooded. I'd rather deal with hurricanes than tornadoes and earthquakes, at least you can see them coming.

Yes.. hurricanes are only a big deal if your house is less than 15 above sea level.. anything above that and it is a lot of wind and rain. As a plus you know they are coming and can scheadule your life around them.. as opposed to earthquakes, fires, and tornados.

We get SandGnats here in South Jersey too.. Flying teeth is a good description

I dunno about the '15 feet above sea level' thing. When Hugo came through (the last big one to hit SC, that was 1989) people inland as far as Charlotte had MAJOR wind damage. There was a news story about some people who came inland to Charlotte from Charleston and they rented a hotel room, the 'Ramada Inn' sign came down in the wind and went right through the roof/ceiling of their hotel room. A big brick church in Sumter (~60 miles inland) was completely leveled.

Job situation in Greenville is pretty good - Flour, GE, BMW, Hubbel, all within spitting distance along with hundreds of smaller companies. It's a good place to do business, so people do!

Hugo tore things up in its path up past Hickory, NC. My brother and sil were withinout power for over a week. The night it hit I was in a motel room in Columbia waiting to start an asbestos job in the crawlspace of a school. The school district canceled the work because they were going to use the school for an emergency shelter. So I took off about 9:00pm. It was pouring like a mother as I acrossed the Broad River bridge on I-20. ISTR Hugo hit about 12 midnight.
We woke up the next morning in Spartanburg and didn't even know a hurricane had come through.

But in general getting a way for the coast is usually enough.

I was living in Columbia during Hugo. At about 11PM it was raining like hell and the wind was roaring, I walked out on the back porch and looked up. All the trees around my house were doing the Watusi. Nothing I could do about it, so I went back inside and cracked a beer. One of my neighbors lost an enormous oak tree.

Curmudgeon wrote: I was living in Columbia during Hugo. At about 11PM it was raining like hell and the wind was roaring, I walked out on the back porch and looked up. All the trees around my house were doing the Watusi. Nothing I could do about it, so I went back inside and cracked a beer. One of my neighbors lost an enormous oak tree.

The school we were to work in (Dent Middle School) lost a few huge oaks.

A co-worker lived in Charlotte during that time and said it was almost anarchy due to no street lights.

A good friend who lived in Lancaster worked for a propane/ice company. People would follow him home and accuse him of taking home ice. He said he never took any because of threats.

For sure Hugo was a kick in the butt, but most of the structural damage was from the 15'+ storm surge or being bombed by trees. I sat on the couch and checked the roof every time the house got hit by something large. Most of the trees in the yard came down, two of them hit the house. The house we were in at the time was built like a tank and just shrugged them off. I lost 6 shingles and 20' of fascia board. Dealing with the clean up and repairs was a bit of a pain. But that's once in 45 years.

The rest of "hurricanes" haven't been more than a good storm that last for hours rather than minutes. The local news does a great job of blowing it out of proportion so I don't watch the local news. I ignore hurricanes until they are within 3 days of landfall. Then I'll fuel and crank the generator, and make sure all the flashlights have batteries. Beyond that, we are always prepared for them and won't evacuate, so whatever. They do a great job of watering the grass.

This ain't Florida. I think 4% of the hurricanes that hit the US come to SC.

And Curmudgeon, step out of the city limits, we still run 1/4 speed.

.

About the Hugo storm surge: Daniel Island was mostly underwater during Hugo, the highest point is, IIRC, 18'. It was uninhabited at the time. The damn thing is now covered with McMansions full of transplanted Yankees. The next big one is gonna rock their world.

She was actually thinking about the waitress type jobs or even getting into being a cook or baker.

Interesting side note my family traced back is from the South up until after the end of the Civil War then they all started moving out west. First stops in Oklahoma and Texas then eventually moving up to the Pacific NW.

Just make sure you bring the Southern part of your DNA back and not the Pacific NW parts.

Southerners are fine people. They are polite and friendly. Just don't make the Yankee mistake of confusing politeness with weakness or a drawl with being dumb.

Curmudgeon wrote: About the Hugo storm surge: Daniel Island was mostly underwater during Hugo, the highest point is, IIRC, 18'. It was uninhabited at the time. The damn thing is now covered with McMansions full of transplanted Yankees. The next big one is gonna rock their world.

yea.. that is the problem with the shore here.. all built up with shoddy built mcmansions. They fly apart very nicely when exposed to storm surge

mad_machine wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: About the Hugo storm surge: Daniel Island was mostly underwater during Hugo, the highest point is, IIRC, 18'. It was uninhabited at the time. The damn thing is now covered with McMansions full of transplanted Yankees. The next big one is gonna rock their world.

yea.. that is the problem with the shore here.. all built up with shoddy built mcmansions. They fly apart very nicely when exposed to storm surge

Hence all the spectacular pictures you see after the storm and the outrageous prices you pay for flood insurance.

nicksta43 wrote: My .02 Humidity Fire ants Humidity

you forgot HOT ... NW corner to the SE corner = hot

It can get stinkin' hot in July/August. Spring can bring some weird weather. I ran a 2 day Divisional at the Michelin 'black lake' at Laurens over near Greenville, the first day it was 78 or so, cloudless blue skies, medium humidity, absolutely gorgeous perfect day.

The next day it was overcast and raining, the high was 48. Brrr...

The coldest temp recorded in SC last century was at Cabin Creek northeast of Columbia. How about -4 deg. F? It got to 0 deg F where I lived. Damn, that was a cold day.

Curmudgeon wrote: Southerners are fine people. They are polite and friendly. Just don't make the Yankee mistake of confusing politeness with weakness or a drawl with being dumb.

Southerners do tend to be fine folks. As a Yankee myself I have lived in LA, rural FL, ATL, and TX. I full agree that the southern drawl should not be confused with ignorance, but there is a reason it is a stereotype. You'll find a very specific tendency toward conservative ignorance in certain areas of the south. Be prepared to discern between the two. There are two types of friends in the south; the lovers, and the ones who make you think they are lovers. To a newbie, they all seem so accommodating, but you have to be able to discern between the two.

Heck, I just moved from Austin TX back to PA and I find myself longing for the enlightenment of the TX folks I left behind.

curtis73 wrote: Heck, I just moved from Austin TX back to PA and I find myself longing for the enlightenment of the TX folks I left behind.

Someone (not me) once said, "Pennsylvania is Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle."

Would like to visit Charleston some day. Didn't SC have a pretty good earthquake not too long ago? They have a history of seismic events so a Pacific Northwest-er should feel right at home.

I've been to Myrtle Beach and Greenville a few times and if i could talk my wife into moving would go to either place today.

Ah yes, Myrtle Beach. The 'Redneck Riviera'. My oldest brother lives in Murrells Inlet, just south of MYB. Some of the stories he tells...

Charleston sits right on a large fault line and it shakes a good bit down there. Summerville (~20 miles from Chuck) seems to be the epicenter. Now you have to remember a big quake in Charleston is where the teacups rattle on the fine china, there's little if any property damage. I guess it's because everything is on sand and that absorbs the big sharp movements. Speaking of sand: if you are in the woods out there, every so often you'll come across a roughly circular area of just pure white sand. A geologist told me those are called 'sand boils', in a really big quake the sand just squirts out of the ground.

Compared to Oregon, your biggest adjustment is going to be the heat and humidity. Oregon has wonderful weather, if not a bit wet and drizzly in the west 1/3 of the state. South Carolina will be extremely hot and muggy. Don't worry though, you can always console yourself in that it is not as bad weather wise as Alabama.

I spent some time in and around Charleston, but it was back in the 80's. I was lucky enough to score a summer job on Kiawah Island for two summers during high school. I've only been back to the area once and that was when I got to visit a small town called Hampton, SC for their watermelon festival. Made a day trip over the Charleston to show the place to my son. There wasn't a whole lot to see in Hampton.

My brother lived in Greenville for a while. He loved the area, but hated his job, so he only lived there for a year or so and moved to upstate NY.