The hurricanes have been quiet so far this year, but shouts of hurricane preparedness have not been.

Thursday, U.S. senator Jim DeMint held a disaster preparedness hearing in Beaufort, at the Marine Air Station...

...“More than two days before the storm hit New Orleans, we had a line right where it was going to go,” said DeMint. "Literally within a few miles the storm hit where the weather service said.”

But while the technology predicting hurricane paths is already pretty good, the response after the hurricane hits is still causing problems.

“I think everyone around the country has gotten the message that FEMA isn’t going to be there right after the storm hits,” said DeMint.

So DeMint asked local officials and military how Beaufort County would respond to a major hurricane.

The good news: Beaufort officials said they could complete a full evacuation in 25 hours from the county.

The bad news: with only two routes out of Beaufort, many evacuees would get caught in neighboring counties. And a quiet summer so far is no comfort.

“The peak activity is for mid-August to end of October,” said John Jones, Jr., deputy assistant administrator for the National Weather Service. “It only takes one storm to make a bad year.” ...