Lowcountry officials, emergency crews ready if necessary as Nicole passes through

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - Hilton Head Emergency Manager Tom Dunn said they’re of course watching Nicole, but for the most part, feeling confident about this one.

“From our perspective, we feel pretty comfortable with where we are. We’ve made all our normal preparations getting ready for tropical storm Nicole, fortunately it’s not going to be the storm that it could have been, so we’re looking at a little wind and really more concerned with the beach than anything else,” Dunn said.

Dunn said they’re not activating their emergency operations center for now, but does say there’s just no reason to risk leaving home Thursday night in case something does change.

Because of that, the town is asking folks to stay off the roads and beaches until Friday.

The island’s power needs are serviced by Palmetto Electric. The company says they’re less concerned about our area and more with surrounding parts of South Carolina.

“We are pre-staged and ready to roll if there’s any problems, whether that be in the South Carolina Lowcountry - our service area - or throughout the state of South Carolina. We also help other co-ops, we’ve even gone as far as Louisiana one summer to help with hurricane restoration,” Palmetto Electric Co-op Public Relations Manager Missy Santorum said.

Of course, they’ll make sure they secure any needs here in the Lowcountry as a first priority, but she says after that the focus does shift to who they can help.

Copyright 2022 WTOC. All rights reserved.