Storm battered North Myrtle Beach residents show gratitude, resolve as cleanup begins

Carmen Shaw limped as she walked gingerly down the steps of her home along Hog’s Inlet in North Myrtle Beach, the foot injury she sustained while moving wood for a friend as Hurricane Ian blew through still with her.

“I don’t even know how to describe it. All our neighbors were out there looking at the water coming in and I said, ‘help,’ and they (neighbors) came running,” the 51-year-old said. “New ones that I hadn’t even met yet.”

As the sun rose over her storm battered city, Shaw was able to take stock of just how punishing Ian turned to to be. She and others assessed what they lost — lawnmowers and power tools. Beach furniture and basketball hoops.

But much more significant, the 51-year-old Shaw said, is what she and her neighbors were able to keep.

Their homes.

Their pets.

Their lives.

“Yesterday, I had white caps right here. I mean, we could have surfed. Literally,” Shaw said, marking a water line about three feet above ground level.

The home, which survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989, was moved away from the beach and placed on pilings about seven years ago.

Hurricane Ian made landfall in South Carolina about 35 miles away from North Myrtle Beach in Georgetown, inundating coastal regions up and down the Grand Strand.

City officials said in a statement Saturday morning that damage assessments are under way.

Barry Nelson sent city officials a hydrology report just two weeks before Ian struck

A hydrologist from High Point, N.C., Nelson and his wife Jan own a home on 59th Avenue N. Its front yard was strewn with toys their grandchildren use that now need a cleaning. There’s also a refrigerator in its side.

Barry Nelson was power washing his garage. With his background in geology and civil engineering, Nelson said Ian’s wrath wasn’t going to catch him off guard.

“I ain’t surprised about water,” he said.

Nelson has run inundation models for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood insurance program and is an expert in developing groundwater systems.

The couple lost a golf cart, car and other appliances at the home when Hurricane Isaias moved through in 2020, so they arrived in town on Thursday to prepare.

“I’ve been watching the storm all week and when they moved it so it was going to make landfall around Georgetown I said, ‘we’re going to get the worst of it,’” Nelson said.

As he spoke he looked across the street to a depression where a storm water grate is located.

“We know that when water comes over the bulkheads, that we’re done,” he said. “But we have water that comes in and floods this entire street on a king tide even before the water gets up that high.”

Nelson and his team did a survey about two months ago and discovered the pipe’s gradient was off. He sent his report to city leaders in the middle of last month.

Channel Street was lined with homeowners clearing out from Ian’s wake

“Matthew put two feet of water in here. So did Isaias. This is a little worse than that,” said Bob Budden.

A few houses down, Mandy and Donald Corns of Madison, N.C. were clearing out debris from a property they visit often and is beloved by their grandchildren.

Their garage door snapped off and portions of their back deck buckled under Ian’s wind.

The Corns said they love living in the low lying area most of the year, watching herons touch down in the marshlands behind the house.

“I’m starting to doubt myself,” Donald said, taking a break from the cleaning.