It wasn’t supposed to work out this way.

Unfortunately for the people of Florida, Hurricane Dorian was poised to wreak catastrophic destruction on the Sunshine State. Up here in South Carolina, we were sympathetically monitoring the situation. We wanted to be there for our southeastern neighbors while also preparing for any impacts that the Florida landfall could have on us.

This was the sentiment throughout all of last week. But then I went to sleep on Friday night…

When I woke up on Saturday morning, there was an entirely different narrative. It looked like Florida would be spared and South Carolina would take the brunt of Hurricane Dorian. Was it just bad luck or did Dorian know that she had a streak to extend? This will mark the fourth consecutive year that our area will be impacted by a major hurricane.

Myrtle Beach is now in Dorian’s path.

Since Saturday afternoon, I have been busy. I am running Coastal Carolina University’s social media response and worked all of yesterday from my living room chair. I also share the public information seat within CCU’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and spent today working from our command center on campus.

Shameless selfie taken outside of our EOC at Coastal Carolina University.

But it just isn’t the work side of Hurricane Dorian that I am worried about. As you can imagine, my family situation is what concerns me most. What will happen on Wednesday night and Thursday when the hurricane is supposed to swing by the South Carolina coast? Will our house go unscathed? Will our streets flood? Will grocery stores still have food?

Well, it is tough to say.

However, I am cautiously optimistic that we will be just fine. Although Myrtle Beach has a 76% chance of tropical storm-type winds, this weather event doesn’t scare me as much as Hurricane Florence last year. Judging by models and my own intuition (not to be trusted), I think we will escape this storm just fine. At the time, we don’t have evacuation plans. But don’t get me wrong––if Dorian’s track moves just a bit to the west (God forbid), it will be an entirely different story.

So please, don’t worry too much about us. Instead, say a prayer for those in the Bahamas and those who will face a much more violent Dorian than us. This hurricane is no joke and not everyone will be as lucky as us. Don’t Blink.