South Carolinians brace for Tropical Storm Florence

In South Carolina there are more than 66,000 power outages because of Florence.

The state's emergency management division has been lifting evacuation orders in coastal counties, as the storm weakens. “Lots of canned goods, just basically using things we can heat up and eat.”

Krystal Johnson has lived in South Carolina all her life, and she's no stranger to hurricane season on the coast. “Candles flashlights, necessities.”

She lives in Ridgeland 30 miles from the coast of South Carolina.

“Honestly I was kind of nervous I got some butterflies as you usually do but I honestly wasn't worried because we do everything we can to kind of prepare.” The nerves were high for the mother of two because Hurricane Irma did a number in the county she lives in, around this time last year.

“Compared to last year everyone was trying to get out of the way for Irma, we were almost without power for a week. Last year if you were to stand in our yard during Irma I could sit outside my door there was a line of cars passing by trying to evacuate.”

Hurricane Florence, which is now a tropical storm has caused catastrophic flooding. Johnson says she has the South Carolina Emergency Management Division's notifications come to her phone.

“It lets you know if you actually need to evacuate or if you can stay where you are.”

This map shows the surge areas, and which counties are at risk. Right now, Myrtle Beach has seen some of the highest rainfall totals in the state. In the last two days it's rained 10 inches. Nearby counties have gotten, 13 inches, and rain is expected to come down for the rest of the weekend.

Johnson says she's thankful Florence didn't have as much of an impact as predicted but it's still a sad time. “More than anything my heart goes out to the ones that are affected. North Carolina when you start to see there are some fatalities my heart goes out to those families.”

And as the rain is expected to continue, she says she has her generators, her family, and car ready in case things get bad.