Hurricane Fran Update

Daylight showed little significant damage along the Grand Strand. There is some water on the streets (but no major flooding), a few downed power lines, awnings blown off the front of businesses, and the like. Cleanup should be swift. At one point over 100,000 people in South Carolina were without power, but that number is now down to 5,000. A water main breakage in Little River has prompted officials to advise everyone in that city to boil drinking water for at least one minute.

North Carolina was much harder hit. Beaches beginning approximately 30 or 40 miles north of the state line were heavily damaged, particularly Carolina Beach, North Topsail Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and Surf City. Wilmington, a few miles inland, was also hard hit. Carolina Beach saw a 12 foot storm surge, and has 8 feet of standing water in the city now. Numerous houses, businesses, piers, and boats were damaged. The Days Inn and Comfort Inn hotels in Wilmington lost their roofs. 1.3 million people were without power in North Carolina and Virginia as of this morning.

Twelve people lost their lives in the storm, two of them in South Carolina. A number of churches lost their steeples, including the Sandy Grove Baptist Church in Myrtle Beach and the First Baptist Church in Wilmington.

For all the damage further up the coast in North Carolina, the entire Grand Strand got off very lightly. Tourism officials are worried, however. Much of the television coverage heavily featured Myrtle Beach. As the storm progressed, video showed the extensive damage further up the coast in North Carolina, but the casual viewer may not have noticed the difference. After Hurricane Bertha, which did virtually no damage to the Grand Strand, many visitors inquired as to how bad the storm had hit, and seemed surprised that everything was back to normal. This hurricane received much heavier media coverage. Don't be surprised to see an advertising campaign later this year to let everyone know that Myrtle Beach is fine, and ready for visitors.


Up to Home Page

This page's address: http://www.mbsc.com/fran.html