Another big storm on way, but no major S.C. impact forecast

MORNING NEWSBREAK | Hurricane Milton, now in the Gulf of Mexico, is forecasted to slam into the western coast of Florida laster this week as a Category 3 storm or stronger. But it isn’t expected to have a major impact on South Carolina.

Forecasters predict it should churn northeasterly into the Atlantic after it crosses Florida late Thursday. South Carolina could experience some rain, coastal flooding, gusty winds and rip currents.

“Over the next couple of days here locally, we’re not expecting any impacts. We have a dry forecast for the Charleston area for the next couple of days,” Emily McGraw, a Charleston-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told The Post and Courier.

Meanwhile, the western coast of Florida is preparing for evacuations. The Tampa Bay area is considered particularly vulnerable.

Elsewhere in the Carolinas, hundreds of thousands have power thanks to work of utility crews cleaning up after Hurricane Helene. But as of this morning, more than 225,000 customers in the Carolinas remained without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us.

Communities across the Southeast continue to deal with the grimy effects of the destructive storm. The S.C. death toll from the hurricane has grown to to 48 people, officials say. Officials also say misinformation is hurting recovery efforts.

In other recent weekend headlines:

CP OPINION, Brack: America might not be as divided as you think. “The common assumption among pundits, talking heads, influencers, water cooler chatters and many neighbors is that Americans are polarized, deeply divided into two intractable camps. It’s as if they are on opposing football teams and you can almost hear their helmets ready to crack. But are we making more of so-called political division than there really is? In other words, is there any “there” really there? Maybe not … and here’s why.”

CP NEWS: S.C. judge extends voter registration deadline to Oct. 14. A state court judge ruled residents will have a few more days to register to vote after interruptions caused by Hurricane Helene.

CP NEWS, Week in Review: Biden, S.C. leaders hail end or strike. A three-day-old port strike that South Carolina officials warned might threaten Hurricane Helene recovery efforts ended yesterday, as dock workers and port operators struck a tentative deal to get International Longshoremen’s Association members back on the job in Charleston and around the country.

Truckers seek better pay as dockworkers back to work

CP FOOD: Beautiful South launches Sunday dim sum in Charleston. “Diners can order from an extensive dim sum menu from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Sunday.”

S.C. sets Nov. 1 as next execution date. South Carolina’s Supreme Court on Friday set Nov. 1 as the date to put to death Richard Moore, who killed a store clerk in 1999. It would be the second execution after a pause of 13 years.

State higher education leaders slated for pay raises. One would get a $64,000 increase, according to this story.

GUN VIOLENCE: 1 hurt, 1 arrested outside Orangeburg Co. fair. Officials say one person was hurt when gunshots were fired Saturday night.