Refrigerated Trailer for Rent in Bluffton, SC

The National Weather Service forecasts that Idalia will be at hurricane strength as it reaches southeast Georgia late Wednesday afternoon, then becoming a tropical storm as it tracks along the South Carolina coast. NWS also stated a flood watch in southeast South Carolina will be in effect through Wednesday.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency Tuesday ahead of potential impacts caused by Idalia. McMaster warned residents should take precautions despite the state likely missing the "worst of Hurricane Idalia’s impacts."

Track the storm here:How will Hurricane Idalia impact SC?

Hurricane Idalia:Gov. McMaster declares State of Emergency for South Carolina

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka shares letter to residents

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka shared a letter to residents of her city.

Dear neighbors,

Thank you for preparing for Hurricane/Tropical Storm Idalia.

Historically, the busiest time for storm activity happens in this area from late August through mid-October. Unfortunately, this storm activity is following its normal pattern and timeline.

As Mayor, I hope to give you the information you need to feel informed and keep you safe. Storm preparation is a group activity, and we need you to be mindful and take some actions for the best possible outcome.

Let me assure you that Town leaders and staff are on regular calls throughout each day to keep our communities as safe as possible. As we say each year, “We may be able to put a person on the moon, however, we cannot predict a hurricane with precision.” Nature has the final word about hurricanes, their path, and timing. Information is constantly changing – the antidote to a lack of control is to control what you can and be proactive.

This storm is most likely to bring standing water, power failures and downed trees.

Hurricane Idalia: List of things to do before storm hits

Hurricane Idalia: Town of Bluffton offices closed

Hurricane Idalia: Utility Contacts

Please keep posted to the Town’s social media platforms and we will be communicating new information as we receive it. Stay safe, Bluffton!

Warmly,

Mayor Lisa Sulka

USA Today contributed to this story.

BLUFFTON, S.C. —

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It took almost four years. But thanks to microchip technology, a missing Bluffton cat is now back home, living his best life.

Oliver is a sweet, 14-year-old cat who lives in Bluffton. He loves cuddling and spending time with his owner, Linda Burton.

But back in April of 2020, Burton was hospitalized with COVID.

"I was sick in the hospital and I came home after four days, and Oliver was missing," Burton said.

Burton intensely searched for Oliver, but after months and months went by she eventually gave up hope, worried that something like an alligator might have found Oliver first.

"I honesty didn’t think he could survive four years. I didn’t think he could survive an hour," she said.

That’s why Burton was shocked when she got a text from the local shelter, saying someone had brought Oliver in, four years later.

"I just about fainted because I couldn’t believe the he was found," she said.

Luckily, Oliver was microchipped so the shelter was able to easily find Burton and reunite the pair.

"She was ecstatic," said Shelly Anchondo, Okatie Campus Manager of the Hilton Head Humane Association. "Like she was immediately ready to hop in her car and come get him. She was in tears. So was our front office staff."

Burton says Oliver hasn’t missed a beat since returning home and he’s become her little shadow.

She hopes his story will inspire others to microchip their pets.

"Please microchip your pets because there’s no way I would have gotten reunited with Oliver if he wasn’t microchipped and it’s just a small thing that you have to do and it can make such a big difference," Burton said.

For more information on getting your pet microchipped, click here.

TRENDING STORIES

One-year-old Joelle DeLeo sat in a stroller rattling a small plastic toy on a recent Thursday morning as activity buzzed around her. She was sitting in the middle of a soon-to-open restaurant that will bear her name in Bluffton.

Joelle, the restaurant, is located at 132 Bluffton Road, Suite 100, in a newly constructed building that also is home to a salon, an architecture firm and other businesses. It’s the result of years of planning and work by two generations of the family, and, if all goes well with a liquor license and town permits, they will be serving patrons from a “modern Italian” menu later this spring.

Robert and Breana DeLeo, the toddler’s parents and the restaurant’s owner, met while working in the hospitality industry in Charleston, later moved to New York, and now live in Bluffton. Robert’s family owns Island Restaurant Equipment on Hilton Head. His father also is one of the partners in the development of the center where the restaurant is located, making it a true family business.

The DeLeos’ vision for the restaurant is light and airy but still cozy. Breana described it as “modern, but not too modern.”

“We’re trying to go very Italian coastal, very neutral tones,” she said.

That Italian coastal theme echoes in the food served there.

Chef Brandon Torre has worked at The Ritz-Carlton, The Omni Hotel, The Westin Hotel and, most recently, Colleton River Club in Bluffton. He is planning a menu that offers wood-fired pizza and Italian fare including fresh, house-made pasta.

The food will be “from-scratch fresh,” Torre said. “You can usually make it better yourself.”

The goal is not to duplicate traditional Italian-American fare but offer more modern, refreshing and lighter takes.

“We want very unique, very chef-forward dishes with the Italian cuisine as the focal point,” Robert DeLeo said.

To the right of the entrance, Joelle’s bar area will seat 18 between at the bar and at three tables there.

The inside dining area will seat around 44 people at tables and booths, while the outside dining area will seat around 50 people. Between them are large sliding doors that can be left open on nicer days.

The restaurant will be open six days a week for lunch and dinner. It will be closed on Tuesdays.

Why Tuesdays? Many restaurants in Bluffton reduce their hours or close altogether on Sundays and Mondays.

“Coming from New York and coming from an Italian family, we always used to go out for Italian dinner on Sundays,” Robert DeLeo explained. “That’s kind of the day to go out for that cuisine. ... Why not try and compete on those two days when not many places are open?”

This story was originally published March 11, 2024, 11:14 AM.

A colder than usual winter has delayed the expected opening of the U Pick Daffodil farm, but the Bluffton-area attraction’s owners say they are now ready to welcome visitors.

A trip to the farm has become a spring rite for families, flower-lovers and photographers, and co-owners Chuck and Diane Merrick expect to be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24. The farm may close early if the Merricks begin to run out of blooms.

“Cold weather doesn’t hurt the flowers; it just slows them down,” said Chuck Merrick, who estimated the blooming fields are about two weeks behind where they would be in a typical year.

The weather forecast for Saturday in Bluffton is sunny and windy with a high of 67, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston. Sunday will be sunny with a high near 60.

The fields are located at 48 Calhoun Plantation Road, just off Pinckney Colony Road.

Each stem picked is 50 cents. Cash and card payments will be accepted.

This year, the Merricks likely will open the fields only on weekends because that’s when their family is available to help them. Weather and the lack or abundance of blooms will affect what days the farm is open.

For information about days the farm will be open, watch its Facebook page or go to its website at upickdaffodils.com. Those who’d like to check on the status of the flowers before making a longer commute can also text Chuck Merrick at 843-368-1998.

The U Pick Daffodil tradition started more than 50 years ago, and each year the farm has expanded to meet a growing demand.

Chuck Merrick uses a planting machine purchased from Holland — it is pulled behind a tractor — to plant tens of thousands of daffodil bulbs with varying blooming times so the farm has a longer picking season.

Daffodils don’t grow easily in the Lowcountry climate, he previously told The Island Packet, and every year the farm loses about half of the ones they had planted in earlier years.

In the early morning hours of February 25, a hit-and-run collision on Hilton Head Island took the life of Jason Flack, 45, of Bluffton. Flack’s death would send ripples across the Hilton Head and Bluffton communities as the spiderweb of people who loved him found out about his passing.

Originally from Pittsburgh, the owner of the electrical company, Innovative Electrical Concepts, moved to Bluffton in 2001.

If he wasn’t working, Flack was fishing, hunting, playing hockey for his team, the Silver Knights, in Savannah. He was also known for spending time with friends at the Skull Creek Boathouse. His loved ones said that most people fell in love with Flack the first time they met him. He would make a friend wherever he went, without fail.

“Jason wasn’t my best friend. Jason was everybody’s best friend,” said Chris Walton.

“Before the end of the day, he had a new friend. And that wasn’t just like an acquaintance. I mean, he had their phone number. He texted them, he called them.” Walton added.

When asked, his friends racked their brains to think of anyone who didn’t like Jason, to no avail.

“Jason was always happy,” Brett Lance said. “I don’t remember a single time that he was ever down in the dumps.”

With long curly hair, covered in tattoos and rarely seen without a boat shirt and flip flops on, Flack had a look that matched his distinct personality.

“I was like ‘Are you feeling okay?’” Joe Cox said about the one time he saw Flack in work boots.

Flack was engaged to Wendy Bader. The two began their relationship in late 2020 and got engaged nearly two years later in 2022. Both had been previously married and each with children from their previous marriages. Flack’s daughter, Amara Kendall, is 26 years old with two kids. Bader’s daughter, Brielle Bader, is 12 years old.

Bader said Flack’s magnanimous nature was more than you could ask for in a blended family. He had a close relationship with not only Brielle but her father as well.

“She says, ‘Mommy, no one’s gonna know the relationship that we got,’” Bader said. “Her volleyball jersey is number seven and he’d always said ‘You’re number seven on that jersey and number one on my heart.’”

Without fail, at the end of the day, Flack would say goodbye in the same way. “He would look you in the eyes and say, ‘Hey, glad you got to see me today,’” Walton said.

Flack was walking home from the Boathouse the night he was struck crossing the street. Bader said she was asked if she’d like to place a cross near the traffic circle to honor Flack. Instead, she elected to have an anchor placed there, feeling it was more in line with what he would have wanted.

Bader hopes to have the anchor as a permanent fixture at the traffic circle.

Accused driver of the hit-and-run vehicle is Sylvia Nelanader, 61 of Hilton Head. She was arrested Thursday by the South Carolina Highway Patrol

This story was originally published March 1, 2024, 4:23 PM.