Myrtle Beach survived the storm with little damage – foliage and other natural debris is spread throughout the roads but most will be cleared quickly. Myrtle Beach is currently getting their beaches buffed up by renourishment by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, but the project was paused during Florence. After the storm, damage is assessed and calculations are rerun to determine how much sand needs to be replaced on the beaches. Tuesday and Wednesday following the storm, Corps of Engineers officials will tour the Grand Strand beaches on ATV’s and use sonar to survey beach profiles to quantify sand lost by the storm. Pre-storm surveys were completed which will complement the post-storm data and provide a simplistic comparison of sediment lost, allowing the project teams to coordinate making up the difference.
Image: Jason Lee, The Sun News
The project, shown above pre-storm, began August 1st and is expected to be completed on time by December 15th. A total of approximately 1.4 million cubic yards will be placed along the Grand Strand to protect against existing structures.
Wilmington, NC is another story. The town is isolated by floodwaters and supplies are being handed out to those stranded. Residents line up for over a half mile to collect fuel from a tanker that drove in this morning. Wilmington is expected to remain marooned into tomorrow as flood waters continue to rise. New Bern is still under water.
In Carteret Country, the existing dune system performed exactly as intended and took the blunt force of the storm surge and spared the coastal development. The photos below demonstrate the significant protection that dunes provide during potentially catastrophic storm surges. The incipient dunes retarded almost the entire storm surge.
Image: Carteret County Shore Protection Office
Compared to Hurricane Floyd in 1999 which tracked a similar path, hit Bermuda as a Category 4/5 before heading west and impacted the NC coast as a Category 2, the beaches fared very well. Shown below, the dunes spared the houses. Dunes are an incredibly important resilience feature along the coasts.
Image: Carteret County Shore Protection Office
Click here for a full BEFORE and AFTER slideshow of Florence in Carteret County.
For now the Atlantic is back to being quiet, perhaps too quiet for all that warm water out there.
Image: National Hurricane Center
