Building Business w/ the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
The Building Business podcast provides compelling stories of the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce's journey, its steadfast commitment to the local community, and its forward-thinking approach to addressing the needs of businesses in an ever-changing landscape. It stands as an invitation to listeners to become part of a movement that values growth, connection, and the collective progress of the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina community.
Be prepared to be inspired, informed, and motivated, as we provide a rich tapestry of stories that celebrate the dynamic interplay of business and personal growth right here, in our own backyard.
Building Business w/ the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Hurricane Preparedness: Your Guide to Safety in Mount Pleasant W/ Shannon Whitehead
Are you ready for what Mother Nature might throw our way? When Hurricane Erin rapidly intensified from Category 1 to Category 5 in just 24 hours, it served as a stark reminder that preparedness isn't optional for coastal communities—it's essential.
Shannon Whitehead, Emergency Management Resilience Officer for the Town of Mount Pleasant, joins us to share her expertise on hurricane readiness and community resilience. With her background as a geologist who previously worked with FEMA, Shannon brings valuable insights about the four major hurricane hazards we face: wind damage, tornadoes (particularly water spouts), storm surge, and flooding. Did you know Mount Pleasant faces every possible natural hazard except volcanoes? That's why having a comprehensive emergency plan is crucial for every resident and business owner.
We dive deep into practical preparedness strategies, from creating an emergency "go kit" with essentials like water, food, and medical records, to understanding evacuation zones and routes. Shannon shares a brilliant tip most people overlook—keeping a photo of yourself with your pet to prove ownership if separated during evacuation. For business owners, she outlines how to develop action plans covering closures, employee communications, and securing physical assets. We also explore resources for vulnerable populations, including seniors and those with disabilities.
With hurricane season at its peak, this conversation couldn't be more timely. Take control of your safety by signing up for emergency alerts at tompsc.com, downloading the SC Emergency Manager app, and knowing your evacuation zone before disaster strikes. Remember, as Shannon emphasizes, "It only takes one storm"—will you be ready when it comes?
Mount Pleasant Chamber's 15th Annual Business and Community Expo
Venue
Omar Shrine Convention Center
Address
176 Patriots Point Road
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464, US
Starts
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, 11:00 a.m. EDT
Ends
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, 5:00 p.m. EDT
Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions
Production Sponsor: RMBO.co
Design Sponsor: DK Design
Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones
Hi Mike, how are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good Good. I'm so glad that we had this podcast today. It's incredibly timely.
Speaker 2:I know it really is and you know I'd like to welcome our listeners to the show today. Building Business Podcast with the Mount Pleasant Chamber. Hello folks, that was Rebecca's sweet voice you just heard just now. This is Mike Compton, Marketing Chair for the Chamber, and Rebecca, you're the Executive Director. I am You're doing a great job, by the way.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I appreciate that, mike.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we really appreciate your leadership. I speak for the board too.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Who cares what they all think? I appreciate you all very much.
Speaker 2:Could not do this without the board and also our Membership Coordinator, jd, who's back at the office holding down the fort. So thank you, jd. Yeah, she's amazing, you know what? Who else is amazing is Shannon.
Speaker 3:Whitehead. She is our guest today. Shannon say hello, hello everyone. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Shannon, what's your title?
Speaker 3:So I have a very long title at the town of Mount Pleasant, but I am specifically the Emergency Management Resilience Officer for the town. I am in the executive office as an advisee for the mayor.
Speaker 2:What does that mean?
Speaker 3:It means that I chase a lot of storms, write plans, as well as do a lot of grants.
Speaker 2:Storm chasing.
Speaker 3:I monitor the storm quite a bit Basically. As you all know, we are in peak season of hurricane season. Right now we have Hurricane Erin out in the Atlantic as well as another disturbance. So basically with my job I just kind of monitor the storm, send information, making sure that we have plans in place, ready to go speak with citizens, the community. You know, with Rebecca spoke with the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce and just kind of putting the word out there, so everybody's prepared if we end up getting a hurricane.
Speaker 2:You did a luncheon with us recently, right?
Speaker 3:I sure did, Rebecca?
Speaker 2:you took some notes from that luncheon, didn't you? Did you want to dive in a little bit more on those notes?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So thank you, shannon, for being with us today. I was. I thought I knew what your position was all about and I really don't, and I didn't realize what the town offered as well in terms of resources. So, before we dive too much into that, tell the listeners, if you don't mind, how you got into the position with the town, how you are a not really a storm chaser, but clearly you enjoy weather.
Speaker 3:Yeah so how that came about? Yeah, and I greatly appreciate it. Um, so I kind of went backwards a little bit. I went to College of Charleston.
Speaker 1:I am a geologist by trade, um, so earthquakes would kind of also be your a lot about earthquakes, okay, all right, most definitely.
Speaker 3:Um went to the private sector and then from there I went to FEMA and helped out with their individual assistance department, and then I always had a love for Charleston. They always say when you move away you're always going to come back. That's happened to me twice. So I am back here in Charleston. I kind of just had a love for helping people, just in general. And then the weather has always been a big thing for me too, especially after Hurricane Katrina. I kind of really got into this kind of position.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and the weather here is not boring, it is not whatsoever.
Speaker 3:The town actually just did a town specific hazard mitigation plan, meaning that we did a study of all hazards that are in the Charleston area, specifically the town, and we have all hazards, except for a volcano that we know of. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:Great.
Speaker 1:So, being at the time of year that it is, let's do talk about hurricanes. And what does somebody listening out there? What are the four major issues? I thought I knew them all, but I didn't, so let's talk about the four major issues. We think of wind, that's correct.
Speaker 3:Yep, we have. So we have wind, we have tornadoes, specifically water spouts, usually on the coastal area. We also have storm surge, which is number one, as well as flooding. So you know, especially downtown area gets flooded really bad but we also have our nuanced areas in the town of mount pleasant as well that we just, uh, keep an eye on and monitor, okay yeah, okay, you said something about erin.
Speaker 3:Uh, kind of on its way, is storm surge a key to that one, even though they're what, 400 miles out is that we said from the coast yeah, so, um, based upon the national weather service of charleston, they indicated that you know, when it swings by, it's still going to go out and curve north.
Speaker 3:That's the projected path as of now and it seems to be in correlation with all the runs that they've had and it's going to be approximately about 400 miles, possibly A storm surge in wind, you know, because the hurricane errand is huge in diameter, so it's just not where the cone of uncertainty is. You've got to think about the broader area. So that's why they're doing the evacuation in North Carolina, you know, on the coastal area. But storm surge and wind is kind of really what you have to worry about during these storms. But even those four key ones that you know we spoke of.
Speaker 1:So do you think, with forecasting there, are we doing a better job? Because Hugo was ones that you know we spoke of. So do you think, with forecasting there? Are we doing a better job because hugo was such a surprise long time ago now, 1989, is that right, uh? Is it easier to forecast where they're going to go? Is it more reliable?
Speaker 2:yeah, if we have the technology, then that we have now, yeah, so not.
Speaker 1:Hugo did that funky turn and then right yeah, so I mean, everything is situational.
Speaker 3:That's what I tell everybody just in general, because you never know, because you have your low fronts and your high weather person it's situational that moves, but yes, with the technology.
Speaker 3:But you know, every, like I said, everything's situational. But the technology that we have now, you know, helps us to predict further of kind of the impacts and possibly where it's going to go. But also having those outside resources and having those relationships so with the national weather service charleston, with the national hurricane center, you know, just because we're mount pleasant, we also communicate with our tri tri cities, which we call city of charleston, town of mount pleasant, north charleston, but we also get information from the health care coalition. So a lot of these people are putting out different information, not different information, but the same key information to us so it's able to help us predict where we could go and help prepare a lot quicker and plan so that's a lot of resources for information.
Speaker 1:So the listener out there, particularly the ones who've moved into the area and I don't know how many a day are you moving- in.
Speaker 2:I used to know those numbers. It's 40, 40 a day. Thank you, okay, 40 a day to the tri-county area, is that how you would?
Speaker 1:perhaps refer to it. So if you were to pick a source, would you to say this is going to give you the most up to date? We have wonderful weather, folks out there, our TV stations, but the town is that also kind of like a one-stop shop for everything going on? Yeah, Do we just go click onto the town website and get alerts?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there's many areas that you can go. First and foremost, I always tell people to make sure that they get the accurate information.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's important.
Speaker 3:Because, you know social media platforms now we have AI and that they get the accurate information. Okay, that's important.
Speaker 3:Because you know social media platforms now have AI and that's not currently accurate. So you want to make sure that you're getting the correct sources so, like your local newscaster that you, you know, know that they're going to put out the right information. Charleston County's website, south Carolina Emergency Management, semdgov you can go to that, but the town does specifically have one where we push out the same information. So if you go to the town's website, which is t-o-m-p-s-ecom, you can go there and go to Notify Me and that's where you can sign up for specific alerts. You'll have to scroll down a little bit once you hit the notify me button and then go to the alert center and once you sign up you'll specifically get alerts from the town of Mount Pleasant. That way we're keeping the same accurate information.
Speaker 3:But you can also follow the town's social media pages. We have an Instagram, a Facebook, and what we do like to ask because there is a lot of inaccurate information now based upon AI and different things people are doing is that once you see that in your local town or wherever you live, but specifically for Mount Pleasant, charleston area, you know, especially if you're new here what could help us is, if you see that information on our website, to physically share it, so everybody's getting the same accurate information. But yes, but the town has its own website that you can sign up for.
Speaker 1:Notify me okay, that's great to know, and so the resources are really important. But let's also I want to talk about how do we get ahead of this, prepare for this? Sure, what should we always have in our go? Kit, our go kit to go box what needs to be in there, yeah, so most definitely so.
Speaker 3:Hurricane season, you know, obviously um is is very long, um, but not only during hurricane season. You want to have a we, since we have all hazards. You know why not have a go kit? Because think about, you know, flooding, um things that's happened all over the united states, fires or anything such as that nature. So you have it ready to go. But but yeah, for like just a go kit, just in general. You know you want to have supplies for you and your family water, food, medical records. Make sure you have those. If you have a business, you know, make sure you have your insurance papers as well as your if you're a homeowner, if you have kids, make sure I have your insurance papers as well as your. If you're a homeowner, um, if you have kids, make sure I always tell people to have something in the bin that's gonna let them feel more um safe because you know that could be a big thing for a child to have to get up and move and go somewhere.
Speaker 3:Um, and we're all pet friendly so we all have fur babies, which I do as well um, to make sure you have the stuff for them too. You know, not only just have one harness, have two in case anyone breaks, they do say for your pets. So at the town we do have dry storage bags. That was provided from the Charleston Animal Society for pets. Justin Journal's got a checklist. But I like to tell people, make sure you have a picture of you and your pet so it shows ownership, because a lot of times too something bad would happen, you know, and you get separated. Then you can show ownership of your pet.
Speaker 2:Never thought about that. That is a brilliant idea. I honestly never thought about it either.
Speaker 3:You know I'm thinking a picture of your pet, okay.
Speaker 2:But to show ownership.
Speaker 3:A picture of you and your pet. I have a bunny. Oh really, I expect to see a picture of you with the bunny.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's right You're going to have to. I'm going to get lost in the shuffle. No, no Evil laugh just now. Anyhow, that's really cute about the pets thing, for sure. What about on the hurricane side of things?
Speaker 1:How can we be better prepared, particularly with our businesses out there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you know, with businesses for hurricanes, you know obviously having a plan in place, you know you're preparing and you're responding kind of like a mitigation, but you want to plan, so you want to make sure that you have maybe an emergency action plan for your business within that. That kind of tells okay, what are we doing as a business if we have to close down? How are we closing down? How are we going to tell the employees, what can we do for our employees to help as well? You know, making sure that you do your your normal things, obviously bringing in your furniture, if you have any outside, um, making sure you talk to your neighbors, because you know, basically it starts local and ends local. So neighbors helping neighbors and that's just not home, but that's businesses.
Speaker 3:You know how can you help each other coming back, because if it's something, if it was a major category hurricane, what does that look like for your business? Will you still be closed for a long period of time? When will you open? How will you communicate that to your employees, as well as to the community, that you are open or that you are closed? And, most importantly, those insurance papers you know, before a hurricane or any kind of storm, especially if there's an evacuation order to call your insurance company, make sure your papers are up to date for hurricane season. You know flooding and everything.
Speaker 2:These are all things that you just overlook, right? Especially just simple things like having an action plan with your business.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's just having like the numbers as well. You know your employees' numbers, other people's numbers that may be able to help you. So say, for instance, if you're getting back and you need help in a certain area, like the 2-1-1 number that you can call that kind of helps with each state you know if you're needing tarps or different things such as that nature.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that 2-1-1.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't know that either. I've lived here a while.
Speaker 2:This is why we do this, this is why we have this podcast.
Speaker 1:I try to. I do plastic sheeting at home, but maybe I need to look into getting tarps too because of leaks. Yeah, huh.
Speaker 2:Okay, good stuff. Yeah, those are great notes. What else we got in there?
Speaker 1:So that's all great, that's preparing right, that's great. So you've got your to-go box, now I need to go. So how do I leave, like, what route do I take? I was here for Floyd, that's how long.
Speaker 2:I've been here, I knew not to go 26.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 3:I went a different direction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how? How do I know how to get out of here?
Speaker 3:So, basically, you want to go to the SEMD website, okay, and first off, you want to know your zone. Obviously, in this you know hurricane guide, um, it has it on here as well. They did just change up their zones last year, so Mount Pleasant is in Zone B. There are three houses in Mount Pleasant that are in Zone A I'm not sure which one that is. But if you go to the SEMD website and click Know your Zone, you can physically type your address in and it will pop up.
Speaker 3:It'll say Zone B, zone C, d, and then after that they do have the maps within the state guide that you can get over at the town if you would like. They also have it online and that tells you the routes that you need to go. And so if they're saying zone A evacuate first, you're going to go the route that they tell you to go. And I always tell people go the route that they ask you to go, because you don't want to get stuck on those side roads if there's flooding or if there's a tree. Right, you know you. You want to make sure that you're you're going the route that they suggest, just because they they plan this, you know all the time.
Speaker 3:But um, but yeah, that's kind of how you can find the information and know which route you need to go to and stuff.
Speaker 1:Is it real time so that they know if there's flooding coming, that type of thing? Yeah, so they kind of plan for all of this they do Okay.
Speaker 3:So they actually have exercises where they change the routes? Huh Well, not necessarily change the routes, I'm sorry, but do the interstate where everybody can go in one direction?
Speaker 2:Well, I just downloaded the SC Emergency Manager app. Okay, you can get that at SC. What is it?
Speaker 3:SEMD.
Speaker 2:Yeah org.
Speaker 3:That's correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, listeners, do that. It's really easy.
Speaker 1:And it might save your life one day.
Speaker 2:Look at us saving lives right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, saving lives and keeping our businesses strong.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's correct.
Speaker 1:Building business yeah.
Speaker 2:There was this cool. Where can they get one of these handy dandy thingies?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you can actually get the state guide over at the town hall Town hall At 100 Ann Edwards Lane here in Mount Pleasant and you can ask for one, or you can just ask for myself. Shannon Whitehead and I can bring some down for you. But you can also go online. They have them online as well on the SEMD website. You can have your own PDF file or anything that you need. You could probably also go to Charleston County's website as well.
Speaker 3:They have their own guide and then they also have the state guide on there as well okay yeah, but in the charleston county guide they actually have, um, the bus stops where you could go in case, for some reason, if you are unable to leave. I always tell people to leave when they kind of heed, warning that you should go and make sure that you keep an eye on the path of the storm, but using the information that's provided from you, from experts, because I'm not a meteorologist by any means but if some reason your car breaks down or it's the last minute and you've got to go to a shelter, there are actual bus stops where you can go to get on the bus to go to the shelter, or they have that.
Speaker 1:Charleston.
Speaker 3:County to let you know where they're at as well.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like kind of keeping those resources online, you know available, like pulling down the apps, getting ahead of it. Yeah, when talking about our fur babies, do all shelters allow pets, or how do you figure that out?
Speaker 3:So obviously so we don't have shelters on the coastal areas, because you know, people have to leave. Yeah, so they start to do them in the North Charleston area and Charleston County. Along with the state they coordinate those efforts to see, okay, what shelters can we have, Like normally they're schools, but they do other buildings as well. I know last year there was a shelter that did allow pets as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, Any advice for someone out there who we've talked about children, but perhaps have a parent, they've got to, also a loved one who is elderly and needs assistance, or maybe they have some dementia related issues. Any advice for that, for that person?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a good question. So there is. I actually have a pamphlet too. It's called Senior Prep. Okay, but you can go online. So just senior and then prep. They have a lot of good information. They did have an expo, and I think they do it every year. They just recently had it a couple months ago at the North Charleston Coliseum, for the seniors to come out and learn what's available to them and how they can, because a lot of people too are in, you know, assisted living facilities and whatnot. So my best advice, too is, if you have a parent that you're help taking care of or anyone with disabilities, just kind of getting those numbers prepared. You can also get it on the semd website too. But the senior prep, they have a lot of good information for everyone.
Speaker 1:So we've actually started an aging connections program, mike, uh, for our chamber members that provide senior services. So I'll get with you, shannon. I'd like to have that information available, and certainly the chamber office we'd love to have. Yeah, some of that information too, so that, um, we're at 534 johnny dawes boulevard suite 101. We'd love for y'all to come visit us at the chamber office, but we'll have that as well.
Speaker 2:Um, this has been a great conversation, thank you so much, yeah, and we'll put as many notes as we can, too, in our show notes so all the dot coms website contact info. We can put in our show notes as well, so yeah, that'd be great uh, yeah, thanks for the time, shannon yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it. You know, just like I tell everybody, just make sure you're prepared, and you know it only takes one storm, um, you know, especially like hurricane erin. It went from a category one to cat five and 24 hours, which is called rapid intensification. So you know, just make sure that you have everything ready to go and that you know your zone and have a plan to where you're going to.
Speaker 1:And you can find Shannon at tonpsccom down on the Mount Pleasant website. Very good, thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, rebecca, thanks to the Charleston media solutions as well, and the mount pleasant chamber. We'll, uh, we'll talk to you next time, mount pleasant thank you so much.
