As Hurricane Ian nears, here’s how storms going back 30 years affected Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach is no stranger to hurricanes and tropical weather. As part of a coastal region, it has been battered by storms from Hurricane Florence to Hugo over the decades. These storms frequently flooded the state, ripped apart homes and left South Carolina with billions of dollars in damage to deal with.

Recovery from many of the storms took years, though it hasn’t been since 2020 that Myrtle Beach has experienced any significant damage. And now Hurricane Ian is on the way and is forecast to potentially bring heavy rain, destructive winds and flooding to the Carolinas this week.

But just because the memory of those storms might not be as top of mind as they once were doesn’t mean the Grand Strand can let its guard down.

With Hurricane Ian on the way, we’re going to walk through how storms have affected the Grand Strand for the last 30 years. To start, here are all the major storms that touched the region going back to 2015.

Hurricane Isaias (2020)

Hurricane Isaias was a Category 1 hurricane in August 2020. Storm surges during Isaias flooded the coastline. In North Myrtle Beach, waters were a foot deep, and many homes in low-lying areas were flooded. A portion of the Sea Cabin Pier in Cherry Grove was destroyed due to storm surges during high tide.

Many low-lying streets were closed due to flooding. Highway 9 was covered with up to 18 inches of water in some inland areas. Wind damage included six confirmed tornado touchdowns from Myrtle Beach to Wilmington, N.C. North Myrtle Beach’s sand dunes were also badly damaged.

Isaias was the most recent hurricane to make landfall in South Carolina. All other storms since have weakened to tropical storm status before hitting the Palmetto State’s shores.

Hurricane Dorian (2019)

Hurricane Dorian was the strongest storm and most destructive in the 2019 hurricane season overall. The hurricane formed in late August but didn’t reach South Carolina until early September. Its storm surges flooded much of Garden City and several other Horry County neighborhoods.

Dorian also created three tornadoes that touched down in the Grand Strand and surrounding region. At its height, Dorian was a Category 5 hurricane but reached the Carolinas as a Category 1.

Hurricane Florence (2018)

During Hurricane Florence in 2018, a new record for tropical cyclone rainfall was set in South Carolina at 23.63 inches. South Carolina Emergency Management reported nine deaths due to the hurricane and $607 million in damage. Some 455,000 people in South Carolina and North Carolina had to be evacuated, and many roads, houses and businesses were destroyed. Torrential rain continued days after the hurricane, leading to more flooding in some parts of South Carolina.

The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, but its record-breaking rainfall caused intense flooding across much of the coastal Carolinas and even inland. Some areas were under evacuation orders for weeks.

In Horry County, more than 100 people had to be rescued from floods in the small town of Loris. The Waccamaw River reached its highest flood levels yet, and more than 1,000 homes and businesses nearby were filled with water. One community, Dongola, was isolated for 10 days due to flooding.

Hurricane Matthew (2016)

Although Hurricane Matthew was only a Category 1 storm, it caused severe damage to the South Carolina coastline and resulted in the deaths of 29 people in North Carolina and South Carolina.

The storm damaged the Springmaid, Garden City and Surfside Beach piers and flooded rivers due to historic rainfall. Matthew was the most powerful storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, according to the National Weather Service. The Surfside pier has yet to be fully reopened six years later.

Other major storms that affected Myrtle Beach

More than a few smaller storms also came to Myrtle Beach, such as Tropical Storm Colin, which snuck up on forecasters in early July 2022. Here are the other tropical storms that have hit or come near the Grand Strand since 2017.

• Tropical Storm Colin (2022): Colin snuck up on forecasters and didn’t reach tropical storm status until just a few hours before it arrived in Myrtle Beach. The storm brought much-needed rainfall to the region and little to no damage.

• Tropical Storms Fred and Henri (2021): Fred never fully reached the Carolinas, but its remnants did impact their coastlines by creating rip currents and minor thunderstorms. Henri stayed far away from the Carolinas but brought dangerous rip currents to the shores of both states.

• Tropical Storm Elsa (2021): Arriving in early July, Elsa dumped rain across the Carolinas and caused some flooding, but damage from the storm was relatively miminal.

• Tropical Storm Danny (2021): Danny formed off the coast of the Carolinas and brought some precipitation. No major damage was reported.

• Tropical Storm Michael (2018): This storm made landfall in Florida as a hurricane but weakened to a tropical storm by the time it reached South Carolina and dumped a few inches of rain across the coastal parts of the state.

Myrtle Beach also has a long history with hurricanes wreaking havoc. Here are some of the biggest hurricanes going back to Hurricane Hugo in 1989, whose devastation was so bad it required the deployment of the U.S. military to help with the aftermath.

• Hurricane Joaquin (2015): This storm dumped nearly 2 feet of rain in a single weekend on parts of South Carolina.

• Hurricane Charley (2004): Charley shook South Carolina because it made landfall twice. While damage was minimal, the storm killed an estimated 8,000 young sea turtles.

• Hurricane Floyd (1999): This storm reached Category 4 at its strongest and made landfall at Cape Fear, N.C., just north of Myrtle Beach, as a Category 2 storm. The storm dumped more than 20 inches of rain on parts of the Carolinas. Its effects were worsened by Hurricane Dennis, which made landfall a month before and whose rain saturated both states, leaving little room for the water from Floyd to be absorbed.
  
  

• Hurricane Bonnie (1998): As The State newspaper previously reported, this storm “scared the daylights out folks in the Myrtle Beach area before making landfall near Wilmington, N.C.” The storm caused nearly $30 million in damage to North Myrtle Beach.

• Hurricane Fran (1996): This Category 3 storm’s impact was worsened by that of Hurricane Bertha, which hit the Carolinas just over a month before. Hurricane Fran caused nearly $50 million in damage to South Carolina.

• Hurricane Bertha (1996): Bertha was one of the earliest-in-season hurricanes to ever hit South Carolina, making landfall on July 12 just across the border of North Carolina. The storm caused nearly $270 million in damage to both Carolinas and Georgia and roughly 125,000 people had to evacuate for it.

• Hurricane Hugo (1989): This storm is possibly Myrtle Beach’s most notorious. It was one of the strongest in South Carolina’s history and at the time was the costliest hurricane ever in the Atlantic Ocean. Hugo resulted in $10 billion in damage — with inflation, that would be $23 billion today.

The range of these storms, from almost nonexistent to horrifically destructive, showcases the range of tropical weather Myrtle Beach can see. The National Weather Service said it serves as a reminder to always be vigilant when it comes to tropical weather.

“Every storm is different. Some years we’ll have storms that are low impact, but other years will have ones that can cause significant damage,” said Victoria Oliva, a forecaster for the National Weather Service’s Wilmington office. “It only takes one storm. Keep your guard up. Even if only one storm develops in September, if that storm tracks towards Myrtle Beach, you need to be ready.”