Tag Archives: charleston

2020 Tide Table now available

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A new year is on the horizon, and South Carolinians interested in updating their calendars with a new year of tidal information can now get the 2020 Tide Table Poster from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). 

2020 Tide Tables are now available online and at DHEC OCRM offices in Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Beaufort, and DHEC’s main location in Columbia.

The Tide Table Posters are produced by DHEC’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) to help citizens monitor and plan for tidal events along the coast. The tables provide daily tidal information based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tide predictions, including dates and times of high tides with corresponding water levels, and dates and times of low tides. 

Where to Get Your Tide Table Poster 

Limited supplies of printed Tide Tables are available at DHEC OCRM offices in Charleston, Beaufort, Myrtle Beach, and DHEC’s main location in Columbia. A foldable, desktop version of the chart is also available online. To learn more about the Tide Tables and to download the 2020 poster, click here. 

Coastal Photography  

DHEC holds a Coastal Photography Contest each year to determine the featured photograph for the new Tide Table Poster and web page. More than 400 photos were received during the 2019 contest, and Kristen Kappel was selected with her winning photo, “Pernicious Beauty.” Congratulations, Kristen! 

“Pernicious Beauty” by Kristen Kappel, winner of the 2019 Coastal Photography Contest

King Tides Program 

Joe Cronin submitted this photo taken on October 1, 2019 of Andell Bluff Blvd. on Seabrook Island to the King Tides Program.

DHEC is leading the South Carolina King Tides initiative to document the effect that extreme tide events have on our state’s beaches, coastal waterways, private property and public infrastructure. 

Through the initiative, citizen scientists can submit their photos of king tide events to help DHEC monitor and respond to coastal environmental issues. The photos are included in DHEC’s long-term analysis of coastal vulnerability and planning initiatives with municipalities. 

To participate in the South Carolina King Tides Initiative, click here. 

DHEC in the News: ‘Stop the Bleed,’public housing going smoke-free, students attend health summit

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

SC School Nurses Learn How to ‘Stop-the-Bleed’ in Columbia

Columbia, SC (WLTX) – School nurses from all over South Carolina come to Columbia to educate others when it comes to “stopping the bleed” in an emergency situation.

“Bleeding is the number one cause of death in trauma patients, the number one cause of preventable death,” says Rich Wisniewski with DHEC.

In this two-hour class called “Stop-the-Bleed,” school nurses are learning how to train others in emergency procedures.

Charleston public housing braces for challenges as it goes smoke-free

When the nation’s public housing goes smoke-free next week, the Charleston Housing Authority admits it will be struggling with how to enforce the ban even after adopting its own no-smoking policy last fall.

Don Cameron, executive director of the Charleston Housing Authority, said his agency that serves some, families is still trying to find the right balance between creating a healthier environment for residents and making sure the shift isn’t a jarring one.

“This is probably the biggest change we’ve had in the last decade that affects the entire public housing industry across the country,” Cameron said.

General Interest

Florence One students attend health summit in Atlanta

FLORENCE, S.C. – Five students from Florence One Schools went to Atlanta last week to attend the National Fuel Up to Play 60 Summit, the nation’s largest in-school health and wellness program.

DHEC in the News: Free colon cancer screenings, Charleston floodwaters, bird rookery study

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

South Carolina program provides free colon cancer screenings for uninsured

One group is trying to prevent deaths in South Carolina from the second leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women in the nation.

The Center for Colon Cancer Research (CCCR) at the University of South Carolina offers free screenings for those who are uninsured and medically uninsured, and Tracie Lewis said it helps save lives.

“Colorectal cancer is one of the most preventable diseases through early detection,” said Lewis, CCCR community outreach director. “We know through screening we can detect and prevent colorectal cancer or diagnosis it early.”

Filthy Floods – Charleston floodwaters are crawling with unsafe levels of poop bacteria

Many downtown Charleston streets become filthy Petri-dishes of bacteria in flooding rains, with fecal levels dozens of times above safe limits, according to a Post and Courier analysis and research by College of Charleston.

During the drenching rainstorm June 8, the newspaper sampled eight streets on peninsular Charleston for fecal coliforms, a common measure of human and animal waste. Targeted areas included streets near schools, stores and hospitals.

Analyzed immediately by Trident Labs in Ladson, a certified lab, these samples showed dangerously high levels of fecal bacteria on Charleston’s East Side.

General Interest
Charleston Harbor bird rookery to be studied for silting Shem Creek

The shifting sands of Crab Bank won’t stand still, and neither will the town of Mount Pleasant.

The town will commit as much as $100,000 to study whether the renourishment sand that washes from the shore bird rookery in Charleston Harbor would block the mouth of nearby Shem Creek — the town’s valuable commercial fishing hub, tourist destination and restaurant row.

DHEC in the News: Emergency preparedness drill, flu, penicillin-resistant superbug

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

4 Tri-County agencies team up for emergency preparedness drill

DORCHESTER COUNTY, SC (WCSC) – First responders across the Lowcountry are making sure we’re prepared for any emergency that comes our way.

At the Dorchester County Emergency Operations Center, the staff is doing joint activation drills with the Town of Mount Pleasant, Charleston County, and the City of North Charleston in its annual emergency drill. On Wednesday, that training is preparing for a 5.5 magnitude earthquake.

General Interest

Scientists want to infect you with the flu, but you’ll earn $3,500 and a ‘hotel’ stay

Getting the flu sucks, so why not do it in style?

Researchers at Saint Louis University’s Center for Vaccine Development are offering that opportunity, although their reason for it is much more scientific and less glib. They want to infect willing participants with the influenza virus — after giving them either a real vaccine or a placebo — and then monitor how their body reacts, the Center for Vaccine Development’s director Daniel Hoft said.

Here’s what’s in it for you: A free stay at “Hotel Influenza,” a payout of around $3,500, catered meals and access to TV and internet.

Penicillin-resistant superbug found in Orange County facility, CDC report says

A strain of antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas bacteria was found in a health-care facility in Orange County, making it the first case of its kind in Florida, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The superbug, which produces genes that make it resistant to the penicillin family of antibiotics, was identified in 2017 in seven patients in a long-term acute care hospital — an inpatient hospital for patients who are too sick for nursing homes but not sick-enough for the ICU. The bacteria was identified in patients before causing infections or complications, according to the CDC report.

DHEC in the News: Flu, opioids, coastal floods

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Has the flu loosened its grip in SC? Here’s what the numbers say

It seems the worst has finally passed in regard to flu activity in South Carolina.

Widespread in the Palmetto State for the past 10 weeks, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials now believe the illness is present only on a regional basis.

Opioid prescribing limits to be imposed in South Carolina

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – The South Carolina Medicaid Agency and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina will limit how many opioids doctors can prescribe to patients in some cases.

This comes after Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order in December establishing an emergency response team to battle the opioid crisis in South Carolina.

General Interest

Coastal floods to be nearly as common as high tides in South Carolina within 80 years, NOAA says

Tidal flooding is accelerating along the South Carolina coast, including at Charleston, federal researchers say. The coast might flood nearly every day by the turn of the century almost 80 years from now.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report is the latest in a series of alerts which forecast worsening conditions for South Carolina and the East Coast as seas and storm-surge rise.