The city of Florence, about 70 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach, could absorb 70-to-110 mph winds and 3 to 6 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
“We’ll probably move some of our bigger trucks in front of the building to try to stop some of the debris,” said Terrell Small, the new-car sales manager. Workers at Florence Toyota in Florence, South Carolina, plan to pull high-value luxury vehicles into the service bays on Thursday to protect them. Many car dealerships on the coast were already closed Wednesday ahead of the storm.īut even inland dealerships are bracing for damage. Though about 9 million vehicles are in Florence’s path, the area has only about 162 vehicles per square mile - less than half the figure in car-crazy Houston. It also could cut September auto sales by about 110,000 vehicles, which would have to be made up later, he wrote.Īnalysts at Cox Automotive predicted that Florence won’t destroy as many cars as Hurricane Harvey did in the car-dependent Houston area. Spokesman Kenn Sparks said BMW is monitoring parts supply plants, which could be affected by the storm.Īt auto dealerships in 48 counties of Virginia and North and South Carolina, Florence could destroy about 125,000 vehicles, Citi Investment Research analyst Itay Michaeli estimated in a note to investors. But rail cars with vehicles bound for Charleston and export markets abroad have been moved to secure areas until the storm passes. Three hours to the northwest in Spartanburg, BMW’s sprawling SUV factory remains open. Volvo is co-ordinating with parts suppliers so it will be ready to resume production, according to Datz, who said he wasn’t sure how long the plant would be down. The port in Charleston, South Carolina, though, was suspending operations from Thursday through Saturday and possibly on Sunday.Īnd Florence will almost surely depress auto production in South Carolina, where Volvo already has closed a new factory near Charleston because it’s in an area under mandatory evacuation orders, said spokesman Russell Datz.
The Port of Virginia in Hampton Roads was closed Wednesday but planned to reopen Thursday on news that Florence had veered south. Flooding closed refineries along the Texas and Louisiana coasts and caused gasoline prices to spike. But the damage to energy facilities is likely to be far milder than the devastation left by Hurricane Harvey, which last year battered Houston, the heart of the U.S. Those pipelines carry fuel from the Gulf Coast to much of the eastern United States.Īnalysts expect a temporary boost in gasoline demand as people flee Florence, followed by weaker demand during and immediately after the storm. Still, analysts for S&P Global Platts say it’s possible the Colonial and Plantation pipelines could be affected by power outages or damage to pump stations. Two big fuel pipelines stand in the hurricane’s path, but analysts say they think the storm is unlikely to disrupt the flow of gasoline or other products. North Carolina’s Duplin and Sampson counties, just inland, sell more hogs and pigs than anywhere else in America.ĭuke Energy warned that Florence could cut off power to anywhere from 1 million to 3 million customers in North and South Carolina, potentially leaving them without electricity for several weeks, said spokeswoman Grace Rountree.
High-tech auto plants co-exist with beachfront bed-and-breakfast inns and peanut farms. Combined, North and South Carolina boast an economy bigger than Saudi Arabia’s. Hurricane Florence is slamming a region that is economically diverse as well as sizable. Hiring is likely to be especially strong in construction and at retailers that sell building materials and supplies. “Typically, we see a stimulus effect that creates jobs and raises incomes for South Carolinians,” said Joseph Von Nessen, a research economist at the University of South Carolina. “The ironic thing is, when there’s a rebuilding effort, that can energize local economies,” Walden said. In fact, as with the aftermath of previous hurricanes, the region could eventually receive an economic boost once construction crews come out to rebuild and repair damage and as insurance payments and federal disaster aid flow in. There are now fewer tourists to send away.
Labor Day marked the end of the peak tourism season in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and other coastal getaways.
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