stormwatch

High winds and bridges

Emergency officials start shutting down Lowcountry bridges when wind speeds start topping 40 mph, and many of us simply don't like the idea of driving around in tropical conditions.

So bookmark this tool: a page of SCDOT traffic cams. Click on a cam, see the most recent snapshot of traffic (and, incidentally, weather) conditions from that vantage point.

Might give you a little advance recon before you decide to stay or go.

Evacuating with Fido?

If you're planning on heading out of town tomorrow to avoid Ernesto, but you wouldn't dream of leaving Spot or Fifi behind, you might want to find a pet-friendly hotel in South Carolina. This Web site lists fur-hospitable hotels from Aiken to Yemassee. Don't forget to take food, water, a leash and any pet medications you might need.

Are you a tourist?

If so, we're so sorry! Please come again when it's not hurricane season.

Visitors' questions may be directed to the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at (843) 853-8000, or you may visit its Web site.

Hospital Updates

Open

• Trident Medical Center and Summerville Medical Center will remain open and providing all services, including elective surgeries. Hospital officials said they will continue to monitor the weather and make additionaldecisions as needed, particularly as they pertain to possible power outages.

Closed

• All Medical University of South Carolina clinics, including services in Rutledge Tower and Carolina Family Care, will be closed Thursday, and employees in those areas do not need to report to work.

• University classes are canceled for Thursday. Because of expected flooding, there will be no MUSC bus service after 1 a.m. Thursday, and the Hagood parking lot will not be available.

• MUSC Elective surgeries are also canceled.

• All of Thursday’'s outpatient appointments at Charleston'’s Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, and the hospital’'s Urgent Care Clinic will also be closed on Thursday. Employees will call to reschedule appointments, but patients who need information can call 789-6400 or 1-888-878-6884.

Red Cross Assessing Needs

The American Red Cross, Carolina Lowcountry Chapter is currently preparing for the anticipated landfall of Tropical Storm Ernesto.

The Red Cross is assessing the needs of their local Chapter and will be continuing to mobilize the necessary resources that may be needed to assist those in need. In addition to the local staff and volunteers that are currently serving on the disaster relief operation, the Carolina Lowcountry Chapter has also requested additional volunteers and Emergency Response Vehicles to be deployed to Charleston from other Chapter’s across the country.

The Carolina Lowcountry Chapter is prepared to open 11 shelters as Voluntary evacuations are issued throughout the Lowcountry.

• The Red Cross will open shelters in Charleston County at Stall High School and North Charleston High School at 3 pm today.

• In Dorchester County, the Red Cross will be opening shelters at Woodland High School, Fort Dorchester High School and Summerville High School at 3 pm.

• In Berkeley County, the Red Cross will be opening shelters at Goose Creek High School and Berkeley High School at 5 pm.

• Public Health officials will also be opening Special Needs Shelters at Berkeley Intermediate School, Alice Birney Middle School and Dorchester Senior Center at 3 p.m. today.

If you have any questions about Red Cross Shelters or if you would like more information on how you can prepare for a disaster, you can call the local Red Cross Chapter at (843) 764-2323 or visit www.LowcountryRedCross.org.

The two local Red Cross volunteers that had deployed to Montgomery, Alabama on Sunday are currently stationed in Miami, Florida and they are prepared to provide hot meals to the individuals devastated by this storm once the affected areas become accessible.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like Tropical Depression Ernesto, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster.

The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.

Sandbags Available

From the Charleston Emergency Operations Center:

Sandbags available:
The James Island Fire Department will have a limited number of sandbags available starting Wednesday afternoon at Station 4, located at 1833 Folly Road.  Call 762-5248 to check on availability.

The Town of Mount Pleasant will offer sandbags at the following locations:

•   Royal & Ferry - Old Village
•   Both entrances of Snee Farm as well as Astor Court in Snee Farm
•   Food Lion at Coleman Blvd & Pearl St.
•   Kincade Street
•   Huges Rental - Parking Lot at Stuart Engals Blvd. and Bowman Rd.
•   Whole Food Shopping Center at Houston Northcutt Blvd.
•   Entrance to Beaumont Apts. off Hwy 17

Charleston Services

The following information may be of assistance to residents of the area:

• Parking garages in the City of      Charleston owned by the City are available for resident’s vehicles. There will be no charge if all cars are      removed no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, September 1, 2006.

• No curbside recycling will be collected      by the County on Thursday. Thursday routes will be collected on Friday, September 1,      conditions permitting. Call 720-7111      to confirm.

• There will be no Thursday trash and      garbage collection. Conditions permitting, trash and garbage will be      collected on Friday. If you have debris or bags at the street for      collection tomorrow, please bring them back into your yard. Material floating around will clog      drains and exacerbate any flooding.

• The City of Charleston Police      Department will be sending lists of streets deemed impassable to all local      media. Please stay tuned for that information. Please do not drive into ANY street which is covered with      water.

• Please take the time to go look at the      storm drain inlets in your neighborhood. Clean away any fallen leaves or debris which might float over and      cover the inlet. It can make a difference in any potential flooding.

Recorded phone updates

This won't be of much value to people who are confident with their computers, but if you've got a friend or family member who wants updates on Ernesto without logging on, point them to INFO-LINE.

Chuck Boyd, who used to run INFO-LINE, just sent me this reminder. To get to the storm updates without having to listen to the menu of choices:

Dial 937-6000, wait for the prompt and press S-T-R-M (7-8-7-6). Stay safe.

Thanks, Chuck.

The view from the blogs, etc.

If you're keeping track of Ernesto at home -- and many of you are -- you'll want to bookmark these local sites:

Jared W. Smith: The Blog. Jared is a local computer expert and blogger who tends to keep excellent tabs on developing weather situations. From his latest post:

Charleston is still right in the path of the center of the storm, and now the timing is starting to come into focus a little more clearly, and it does seem that landfall will unfortunately coincide with high tide at 2PM Thursday. I still anticipate seeing a watch sometime today, possibly as soon as 2PM.

Butterfat's Weather Page: Butterfat is a combination of several of the Lowcountry's smartest Web minds. In addition to some of their other endeavors, they've put up this free page that automatically collects and presents the latest tropical weather information. A great resource.

The Charleston.net Storm Center page is another excellent new resource. It archives the paper's storm coverage -- so if you're looking for something you missed, you can find it -- while providing raw RSS feeds from local, state and federal agencies. This one was created by David MacDougall, the P&C's open-source software guru.

Brian Goode's blog: Brian is a TV meteorologist for ABC News 4.

To see what local bloggers have to say about the storm, try the automated site Lowcountry Blogroll. Meanwhile, the P&C blog Lowcountry Blogs keeps track of sites the automated sites don't, and provides daily roundups of local blog buzz.