(Myrtle Beach) August 14, 2004 - The sun shined in Myrtle Beach Saturday afternoon. Many people even went out on the water and enjoyed the gentle sea breaze. But it was a very different picture earlier Saturday afternoon when Hurricane Charley visited the Grand Strand.

Earlier Saturday, the wind was so strong tree branches were blown sideways and chairs were lifted away.

Angel Gonzalez says that at one point the normally calm Myrtle Beach looked like the high seas, "I haven't seen anything like this. It's crazy."

Michael War ignored the governor's evacuation orders and walked the beach during the eye of the storm, "The wind just about knocked us down. I just wanted to see something and go swimming and just stay."

Hurricane Charley made a second landfall Saturday as it struck the coast of South Carolina as the state's Grand Strand resort region stood nearly empty after a mandatory evacuation of some of the area's 180,000 tourists and residents.

For at least an hour, there was sustained winds of 50 miles-per-hour to 67 miles-per-hour sending the beach patrol and police inside. The winds broke windows and even tore off parts of buildings. After the wind calmed, debris left a trail along the beach.

But Mike Conners says he's been through a hurricane before, "I don't see anything major, just trees and brush. And it was calm and came through quickly. It was pretty fast coming through with high winds. But it was over quickly."

The Myrtle Beach Emergency Center reports that there was no significant damage other than cosmetic damage to buildings in the area. Authorities plan to spend the next couple of days clearing up debris and making sure power is restored.

In South Carolina about 32,000 customers lost power in the Charleston area and more than 33,000 lost power along the Grand Strand.

Reporting by Heather Brown

Posted 7:10pm by Eva Pilgrim