page_title: Hurricane Bonnie (1998)
section_title: Florida and South Carolina
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Bonnie (1998) / Preparations / Florida and South Carolina
caption_attribution_description: Hurricane Bonnie on August 26.
context_page_description: Hurricane Bonnie was a major hurricane that made landfall in North Carolina, United States, inflicting severe crop damage. The second named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, Bonnie developed from a tropical wave that emerged off the coast of Africa on August 14. The wave gradually developed, and the system was designated a tropical depression on August 19. The depression began tracking towards the west-northwest, and became a tropical storm the next day. On August 22, Bonnie was upgraded to a hurricane, with a well-defined eye. The storm peaked as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and around the same time, the storm slowed and turned more towards the north-northwest. A large and powerful cyclone, Bonnie moved ashore in North Carolina early on August 27, slowing as it turned northeast. After briefly losing hurricane status, the storm moved offshore and regained Category 1-force winds, although it weakened again on entering cooler waters.
  Fearing a major hurricane strike, coastal locations from Florida to Virginia performed extensive preparations in advance of the storm.
context_section_description: Initially the storm posed a threat to Florida, where military officials kept abreast of the situation. Heavy surf advisories were posted from central portions of the state northward to Georgia, and the National Hurricane Center advised that swimming and boating should be avoided. The Mayport Naval Station ordered 25 ships out to sea in advance of the approaching storm. The Salvation Army was on standby in Jacksonville, prepared to act when needed. Hardware stores in the state reported up to a 75% increase in the sales of emergency supplies.
  Some computer forecast models initially predicted that the storm would move towards South Carolina or Georgia. Before the storm's arrival in South Carolina, researchers at Clemson University used Bonnie to test a new method of estimating the damage a storm is likely to cause. In the state, the South Carolina National Guard put about 1,512 men on active duty, 1,474 being of the Army National Guard. On August 25, the South Carolina Emergency Preparedness Division activated Level 1 operations, the highest of five levels. That same day, the State Governor declared a State of Emergency, calling for mandatory evacuations of residents east of U.S. Route 17 in Horry and Georgetown counties. Schools were closed throughout the state. Over 200,000 people were evacuated from those counties, of which 120,000 were tourists. About 6,000 sought shelter at schools in Horry County. In a survey, 12% of respondents in the state took traffic as a significant consideration in deciding if they should evacuate. On the Grand Strand, Bonnie was the first storm where buses were provided to help people evacuate.
caption: Bonnie on August 26
exif: {"Image Tag 0x0301": "20000/9091"}