By Delayna Earley
The Island News
During the City of Beaufort’s work session on Oct. 8, former Beaufort mayor Stephen Murray had a lot to say about the how the city handled Tropical Storm Helene.
In his sentiments to city council and the current mayor, Murray alleged that they failed to communicate the severity of the storm with residents, focus on public safety instead of aesthetics in the first stages of cleanup and stated that they could have worked better with pertinent local partners to end the power outages.
Murray said that when he spoke to Mayor Phil Cromer prior to speaking publicly he felt that Cromer dismissed his concerns by saying that the storm caught everyone, including the city, by surprise.
Mayor Cromer responded by stating that he was in communication with City Manager Scott Marshall as well as S.C. Governor Henry McMaster regarding the storm, but no one knew how bad it was going to hit Beaufort.
Helene brought sustained winds of up to 45 mph, and gusts hitting 75 mph, which were much higher than the 25 to 35 mph winds with gusts up to 60 mph that were originally forecast.
The strong winds and rainfall of between 2 to 5 inches caused downed trees that blocked roads and fell on electrical lines that resulted in thousands of residents who were without electricity, in some places for several days.
Storm surge caused boats to become beached in the marsh along Bay Street and resulted in structural and dock damage to Downtown Marina.
While both Marshall and Cromer said that with Helene the city suffered because the storm was worse than expected, it is to be noted that during the Tropical Storm warning from Hurricane Milton two weeks after Helene hit the area, the city made a point to bolster their communications with their constituents, going as far as to publicize the cleanup schedule for clearing roads after a major storm passes through the area.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
