Big waves, big reminder

Last week, Hurricane Danielle generated some good waves for local surfers as she roared up the Atlantic. This week, it's Hurricane Earl's turn to perform that service, with his only threat to the U.S. coast lying far north of here. But before becoming too fixated on that "surf's up!" advantage of this storm season, don't forget to keep your guard up until it ends.

Luckily for us, no hurricane has scored a direct hit here since Hugo came thundering in on the night of Sept. 21, 1989. Note the month -- the same as the one that starts today. Just because school has started doesn't mean hurricane season has ended.

With every passing year, a dwindling percentage of Lowcountry residents lived through either Hugo's devastating arrival or its agonizing aftermath. The same law of diminishing experience applies to locals who endured the Hurricane Floyd scare 10 years later (again, in September), when an evacuation fiasco produced I-26 gridlock.

We got lucky then, too, as Floyd made a late northward turn. With painful lessons learned from that traffic-flow debacle, state officials have since crafted and repeatedly tested needed improvements in evacuation procedures.

Yet we've had remarkable population growth on this state's coast over the last two decades. And despite an apparently highly efficient getaway plan designed to facilitate inland traffic by reversing coast-bound lanes, if too many people wait too long to leave the next time a hurricane heads our way, the going could be dangerously slow.

So even if you're now planning your next surfing excursion with a grateful eye on Earl, also keep an eye on additional storms that might be coming much closer to us before this storm season ends.

Review your hurricane plan. If you don't have one, make one.

Because as Hugo and Floyd proved, around here, September all too often is hurricane season.