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    Emergency Preparedness

    Notification Alerts

    Sign up for the Town’s emergency notifications system CodeRED.  CodeRED is used to communication to residents in emergency situations or critical community alerts such as evacuation notices, boil water notices, tornado warnings, and flash flood notices.

    Evacuation Procedures

    When a hurricane threatens South Carolina’s coast, you may plan to leave voluntarily or you may be ordered to evacuate. Charleston County no longer issues voluntary evacuation orders; however based on reports from the National Weather Service, the Governor, and Charleston County EPD, the Mayor will issue a recommendation to evacuate the island.

    By evacuating early, you will be able to pick your own evacuation route. If you wait for an evacuation order, you will be told which route to take. You could be stuck in traffic and you may not be able to find accommodations. Vehicles may be prohibited from crossing bridges due to strong winds. You are strongly encouraged to leave early before an evacuation order.

    Learn More About Flood Awareness

    To learn more about how to prepare for coastal related disasters please see the following all-inclusive guides:

    Zone A

    Evacuation Zone

    Kiawah/Seabrook Island is in ZONE A. When an evacuation order  is issued, local authorities will announce evacuations for the county by predesignated zones. The Tricounty area including Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester County is classified as the Central Coast. The Central coast is divided into evacuation zones A-I. Local authorities will announce evacuations by designated zones.

    Evacuation Route

    If an evacuation order is issued, Evacuees from Kiawah/Seabrook Islands will take Road S-20 (Bohicket/Main Rd.) to US 17. They will then take US 17 south to SC 64. SC 64 where you will go to Walterboro, then to North Augusta.

    Evacuation

    In the event of a Evacuation, the following actions will be taken:

    • KICA Security will ultimately block the incoming gate to all but emergency and official vehicles.
    • Providing its equipment is not being used, the St. John’s/Kiawah Island fire personnel will broadcast the evacuation order throughout the island using loudspeakers.
    • When an evacuation has been determined to be essentially complete, the Kiawah Emergency Operations Center will be relocated to an offsite location as indicated by the Mayor.