Following the re-entry confusion experienced by Beaufort County residents and guests in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, a need to revise Beaufort County’s hurricane re-entry plan was identified. To address and avoid future re-entry confusion, Sheriff P.J. Tanner facilitated numerous meetings with other Beaufort County elected officials, town managers from Beaufort County’s four municipalities and state and local emergency management teams to encourage their input and, ultimately, to arrive at mutually agreeable revisions to the re-entry plan.
As a result, and over the past few months, the revised re-entry plan was distributed to the respective elected and appointed management officials from Beaufort County and the municipalities of Beaufort, Bluffton, Hilton Head Island and Port Royal for their final approval. Officials from each of the five entities agreed to the terms of the revised hurricane re-entry plan and entered into memorandums of understanding with Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management. A copy of the memorandums of understanding signed by representatives from Beaufort County, Beaufort, Bluffton, Hilton Head Island and Port Royal governments are attached to this advisory.
Also attached to this advisory is a copy of Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management’s revised re-entry plan and a link to a YouTube video (
https://youtu.be/DuAvWwJnjGo) we prepared to explain the new re-entry pass tier system and its impact on Beaufort County residents, guests and businesses. We encourage our residents, guests and business owners to review the revised re-entry document, view the explanatory YouTube video and, if there are any questions, to contact Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management via telephone 843-255-4000.
With hurricane season approaching, we would like to take this opportunity to remind our residents and guests where to go to get official, up-to-date information on hurricanes and other natural disasters and to please avoid misinformation spread by unofficial sources on social media. The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office keeps our community informed primarily through NIXLE advisories, which post to Facebook and Twitter. In addition, during a hurricane or other natural disaster, we activate and post information on the Emergency Alerts/Natural Disasters link on our website and Nextdoor, where Beaufort County’s residents and guests can view the same information that is posted through NIXLE, Facebook and Twitter. Accurate information can also be obtained through trusted print, radio and television media.
To sign up for NIXLE, please visit
www.nixle.com and see the below links to access our website, Facebook, Nextdoor and Twitter sites:
We appreciate your continued partnership and commitment to the safety of our community.
