State cuts worry crisis managers

Staff and budget cuts are a growing concern for South Carolina emergency managers as the height of another hurricane season approaches.

Derrec Becker of the State Emergency Management Division said Thursday that within the last 18 months, the agency has lost a third of its staff and now has only 61 employees. And he said in the worst case, there could be more cuts.

"It gives us concern as it does every other state agency facing these severe, drastic budget cuts," he said. "When we look at our ability to be able to respond to a hurricane, we're having to do a lot more with a lot less."

He added that the agency has also lost almost $1 million in state funding.

The impact of that is doubled, he said, because much federal funding requires a 50-50 state match. The agency's operating budget now is about just under $1.4 million, he said.

The cuts come at an inopportune time with forecasters predicting an active hurricane season in the Atlantic this year.

The federal Climate Prediction Center forecasts 14 to 23 named storms of which 8 to 14 are expected to be hurricanes and 3 to 7 major hurricanes. Another tropical depression formed on Thursday.

The height of the season in South Carolina is August and September.

Just what the impact of the cuts will be "is just what we have been asking ourselves. We simply don't know," Becker said.

He said the Obama administration wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be faster in responding to storms.

"We don't want to be as a state or on the local level dependent on FEMA to come in. We want to be able to help our citizens before they come from D.C. or arrive from Atlanta," he added.

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It's more important than ever that residents be prepared for a storm and its aftermath so people are not depending on the government for all their needs, Becker said.

"That is absolutely crucial. Just as we are dealing with the economic times and trying to plan as best we can ... we're depending on the public to be prepared and meet us half way," he said.

The situation is complicated even more in that it's been two decades since South Carolina took a major hit from a hurricane.

Hurricane Hugo, a Category 4 storm, smashed into the Charleston area with its 135 mph winds in September of 1989.