Customer Reviews

Living in the Danger Zone: Realities about Hurricanes

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In the face of the storm

Complacency is the enemy in the face of the greatest force on Earth, but a Bluffton (SC) couple has the antidote—a newly released book, Living in the Danger Zone, Realities about Hurricanes.

Forecasters and emergency personnel have lamented for years the ordeal of getting people to leave barrier islands in advance of an approaching hurricane. The book offers enough horrifying stories to convince residents that leaving before a storm is a good idea.

Growing problems of evacuation, uncertainties in forecasting, misinformation widely circulated and other ideas pushed the couple toward the book.

The book offers tips for everyone including government employees, heads of household, business owners and tourists. Tips abound on everything from the safety of dogs and cats to protection of personal property and business data to protecting one’s home and automobile.
Jim Cato, The Beaufort (SC) Gazette

Potential killer

A sword is hanging over us.

About 50 million Americans, indeed, live where hurricanes can rage. In their book, Hilton Head Island’s Bill and Fran Marscher remind us of a truth we should all heed: Every hurricane is a potential killer.

First, they revisit some of the horrible storms of the past: the great storm of 1893, for example, which killed thousands along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts; the horrific Galveston storm of 1900, and 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, devastating southern Florida.

Other chapters deal with the formidable logistical challenges of hurricane evacuations; the advances and limitations of forecasting science; the daunting problems facing relief workers after the storms; the hurricanes’ immense cost to insurance companies; how buildings might be fortified against the storms; and myths and realities about hurricanes.

Doug Wyatt, Savannah (GA) Morning News

A New Look at Coastal Living

Part history and part survival manual, Living in the Danger Zone should be in the welcome wagon basket for all newcomers to the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. As the number of baby boomers moving to coastal homes grows, the time needed in dealing with a safe evacuation swells as the routes remain few in number.

Joyce Dixon, ...

Excellent source

This fact-filled little volume might best be described as a handbook for those 50 million of us who live in what could become the path of a hurricane.

The current problem has arisen because we have built thousands of homes in areas our forefathers were wise enough to leave undeveloped and, as a result, placing more people each in harm’s way.

The bad news is that with all of the advances of modern science, technology and communication, we are still vulnerable. The good news is that this book is an excellent source of information on what you can do to reduce risks and protect family and property if you choose to live in the danger zone.

Don McKinney, The (Hilton Head) Island (SC) Packet

Hurricane evacuations squeezed in time

Bill and Fran Marscher know about life in the danger zone. Their home, near Bluffton (SC), looks out toward Hilton Head Island, the resort/retirement community that epitomizes the danger they describe.

Not only do roughly one in five Americans live at risk from storms along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but also during the ‘90s, migration to those shores accelerated at roughly twice the national growth rate.

The authors build a convincing case that emergency officials in densely populated areas face an impossible task for evacuating everyone during the narrow window of opportunity weather scientists currently can provide. For those who have to stay behind, the picture is no brighter. Local governments almost universally have failed to enact building codes that would protect homes from a major hurricane.

Living in the Danger Zone lists numerous ways to reduce our vulnerability to violent tropical storms, including a sample resolution readers could submit to their lawmakers. The authors are not so build to suggest politicians and developers will act on their recommendations—only that they should. How right they are.

Terry Plumb, The (Rock Hill, SC) Herald