The Emergency Services Department's staff welcomes you to our web site. We
sincerely hope you will use the information presented here to become more
informed and prepare your home, family or business for a major emergency or
disaster.

Emergency Operations Information and Preparedness

In addition to preparedness information this web site is also a source of reliable,
accurate and official Dorchester County Emergency Operations information. The
"Shelter Information" link on the right leads to a Shelter Status page that lists
Hurricane Evacuation shelters and their status. The "Public Info" page will have
the official press releases from the county's Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
when the EOC is activated. These releases may include evacuation messages,
shelter opening/closing announcements and other important information. The
"EOC" page will list other important information and announcements such as
EOC Status, Damage Reports, Local Openings and Closings, Roads Status, etc.

In the "Preparedness" section you will find easy to understand and practical steps
for preparing your home, family, business and staff for the hazards we face in the
Lowcountry. The "Evacuate" page will help you to evaluate whether you should stay
or leave when a hurricane or tropical system threatens the SC Coast. Maps of
official evacuation routes along with important steps to insure your evacuation
goes as smoothly as possible are available. The "Storm Info" page will have
updated hurricane forecast track maps and links to other Tropical Weather related
images and forecasts.

Bookmark us and come back often. You will soon find more resources and
information to help you prepare your family, home and business for the natural
and technological hazards we face in Dorchester County.

Department Overview

Emergency Management's mission is to protect life, property & the environment by
developing, coordinating and supporting programs that prepare for, respond to,
and recover from disasters and other emergencies.

The Communications Support Division is responsible for the procurement,
maintenance, systems administration and technical support for the county's
communications assets. This includes over 285 Cell Phones, 80 pagers and over 500
mobile and portable radios. Systems supported include E-911 and Dispatch
Systems. Dorchester County is a long-time partner in the Palmetto 800 MHz
Shared Trunked Network. PAL800 is a state-of-the-art 'trunked' communications
network that provides state-wide voice and data communications for over 19,000
radios used by state and local governments and utilities.

The 911-Emergency Services Geographic Information System (GIS) Analyst is a
recently added function to the ESD. ESD-GIS responsible for maintaining the
county's road centerline data and maps. This data is the basis for all county road
maps. ESD-GIS has a key role in the implementation of the "911-Dispatch
Mapping" system and Wireless E-911 Phase 2 slated for start-up late 2006.
Wireless E-911 Phase 2 will provide location data of Wireless E-911 callers.

**NOTICE***

This web site, emails or other alerting lists we may offer must not be relied upon
as a primary source for severe weather information or warnings. The Internet can
have a highly unpredictable delivery time for reasons far beyond our control.

Emergency Managers strongly recommend that you have a NOAA Weather Radio
for timely severe weather warnings and other official emergency alerts. If you live
in a mobile or manufactured home a NOAA Weather Radio is a MUST HAVE!
Many local electronics retailers carry NOAA Weather Radios at a reasonable price
($35-$45). Countless lives have been saved by this device when users receive
immediate warnings of life-threatening weather events such as Tornadoes, etc. A
NOAA Weather Radio could also be the ONLY means of receiving official
emergency public information if broadcast media stations are off the air.

We will make every effort to insure the information presented here is timely.
However, staff limitations or the pace of operations may delay updating
information.

Links to external web sites do not necessarily constitute an endorsement by the
County of Dorchester. While the sites linked to from here are thought to be
reputable and accurate. The County of Dorchester has no control over the
information found at any external web site.