Hurricane Charley
makes second landfall in South Carolina
BRUCE
SMITH Associated
Press
McCLELLANVILLE, S.C. - Hurricane Charley made a
second landfall Saturday not far from this quiet fishing village
which once bore the brunt of Hurricane Hugo's winds.
But the damage was minor compared to Hugo's devastation or the
damage Charley earlier inflicted in southwest Florida.
Charley, then with 145 mph winds, killed at least 15 and caused
what Florida Gov. Jeb Bush predicted could be $15 billion in damage
when it hit southwest Florida on Friday.
The storm crossed the Florida peninsula and emerged over the
Atlantic. But the winds had dropped to 85 mph on Saturday as Charley
moved quickly north toward South Carolina.
Here the storm mostly snapped trees and limbs, ripped down power
lines, toppled awnings and signs and caused street flooding. At the
height of the storm, almost 100,000 customers were left without
power along the coast.
"Mother Nature has spared us," Gov. Mark Sanford said during a
visit to Conway. "We were very, very fortunate we didn't have the
wind and storm surge Florida had."
Hugo, which struck 15 years ago next month, hammered
McClellanville with 135 mph winds, stacking shrimp boats like toys
and sending floodwaters several feet deep into homes and
schools.
"This is ground zero for hurricanes," said Windy Fowler, the
manger of a convenience store which boarded up and closed before
Charley made landfall near the Charleston-Georgetown County
line.
Her name, she said, has nothing to do with hurricanes although
she rode out Hugo in nearby Georgetown.
Customers lined up for gas and ice preparing for the storm, which
Jimmy Leland planned to ride out in his house where he weathered
Hugo, even though that storm left his home flooded with 3 1/2 feet
of water.
A smaller storm like Charley "we really don't worry about. It
comes with the territory living on the coast," he said.
In nearby Georgetown, Charley flooded several streets and
motorists were forced to detour around standing water which blocked
US 17 through town.
Farther north, many of the 180,000 tourists and residents on the
Grand Strand left town on Friday evening when Sanford ordered an
evacuation of areas east of US 17.
There were no reports of serious damage or injuries in either
Myrtle Beach or Horry County, officials said.
Two hotels were evacuated Saturday while a hazardous materials
safety team cleaned up a spill from a 160-gallon container of
chlorine sodium bleach that ruptured when a wall was blown onto it.
At least one hotel was closed to visitors because of roof damage,
said Lt. Doug Furlong of the Myrtle Beach Police Department.
But by Saturday night, most hotels were welcoming back tourists
and power was being restored to many residents who lost
electricity.
Only 15,000 of the 65,000 people in Horry and Georgetown counties
who lost power were still in the dark by 9 p.m., said Jill Watts, a
spokeswoman with Santee Cooper.
"Overall, Myrtle Beach fared well," Myrtle Beach city spokesman
Mark Kruea said. "The storm was a bit stronger than we expected, but
we didn't have the type of damage we usually get in these kinds of
storms."
He said the city would be cleaned by Sunday and urged tourists to
return.
Sanford lifted the evacuation order by noon as the sun was again
peeking through the clouds on Pawleys Island where the sand had been
swept smooth by the storm and a handful of people walked the beach
looking for shells.
Sanford, who also visited Georgetown, left it up to local
officials to determine when residents would be allowed back into
evacuated areas.
Although the evacuation was called for quickly, it went well,
Sanford said. Officials said it took about nine hours to evacuate
Myrtle Beach, a process helped by reversing the eastbound lanes of
US 501, the main route into the seaside tourist town.
For Freddie Evans of Myrtle Beach, Charley provided a chance to
walk along the sand.
He was out near The Pavilion, the popular oceanfront amusement
center in Myrtle Beach, about an hour before Charley's winds kicked
up.
"It's a ritual we do. We come out here and look at the ocean,"
Evans said.
In downtown Charleston, a wind gust of 58 mph was recorded as the
storm passed the area.
By Saturday night, all but 2,000 of the 32,000 customers who lost
power in Charleston's East Cooper area had power restored, said Mary
Green Brown, a spokeswoman for South Carolina Electric and Gas.
Charley caused a bit of consternation on Friday along the state's
southern coast when it appeared Beaufort area might take a hit from
the storm.
But Charley changed course and, as Charley moved north, Beaufort,
which was under a voluntary evacuation, had merely rain and light
winds.
The storm left few signs of beach erosion along the coast, said
Thom Berry, spokesman with the state Department of Health and
Environmental Control. Berry said by the time the storm arrived on
South Carolina's coast, the winds were coming from inland. That
combined with low tide helped keep erosion to minimum, Berry
said.
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Associated Press Writers John Shurr in Beaufort and Jeffrey
Collins in Myrtle Beach contributed to this report. |