There was a pause Sunday, as Grand Strand residents caught their breath before the real work of recovery from Hurricane Charley began.

Continuing rain delayed some from picking up limbs and removing splintered trees and debris hurled by gale-force winds.

Instead, many gathered with friends, held abbreviated church services and prepared for Tropical Storm Earl and Hurricane Danielle, looming in the Atlantic Ocean.

Wal-Mart Supercenter and Food Lion in Georgetown opened Sunday, after the businesses shut down for Charley on Saturday.

Georgetown resident John Hilliard shopped for hurricane supplies at Wal-Mart early Sunday. He said electricity was restored on one side of his neighborhood, near Georgetown Memorial Hospital.

Many restaurants and grocery stores along the Grand Strand reopened Saturday night after the storm passed through and officials reopened roads.

After slamming into Florida on Friday, Charley came ashore again Saturday in McClellanville, just south of Georgetown County with winds of 85 mph, leaving behind flooding, minor structural damage, downed trees and thousands without power. No serious injuries or deaths in South Carolina have been blamed on the storm.

So far, there are no damage estimates for the Grand Strand or Brunswick County, N.C. Rain drenched North Carolina’s eastern counties Sunday as electric crews rushed to return power to customers, and tree crews and residents picked up debris left by three days of violent storms.

Steady, sometimes heavy rain fell from the Raleigh area to the ocean, causing minor flooding in some areas and raising the Neuse River just to its flood stage in Clayton, N.C.

Some Georgetown churches suspended services Sunday because they had no electricity. Others held combination Sunday school and worship services, with smaller groups mostly dressed in casual clothes.

“Today, we’re just going to thank God that we’re safe and that God watched out for us,” said Christie Peterson, whose husband, Schuyler Peterson, leads Lakewood Baptist Church in Georgetown.

Lakewood’s lawn was scattered with broken limbs, and the top of a pine tree was blown on the roof of the church, Peterson said. A small group of worshippers listened to Scripture in a darkened Sunday school room.

The Red Cross was helping families Sunday.

“We had one fellow in Sampit that had a tree fall through his mobile home,” interim Red Cross director John Kiesling said.

“We are putting him up tonight, so that gives him a chance to regroup.”

Others coped on their own or sought shelter with relatives.

Leisa Mitchell’s Conway mobile home lost a significant portion of its roof during the hurricane. Only one room, she said, still has a functioning roof.

“It’s terrifying. My kids are very terrified because of this situation,” Mitchell said.

Several more inches of rain fell Sunday, damaging Mitchell’s home further and complicating some clean-up efforts.

Lanny Rose, a resident of Palmetto Pointe, near the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, watched as a crew cut the remains of several trees from her yard Sunday afternoon.

“We were looking out the window and the storm just took them down,” she said. “We were lucky that it went the other way; my daughter has a tree through her house.”

Rip currents also were a danger along the Grand Strand Sunday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Reid Hawkins. However, the bad weather kept most people off the beach.

Most of the limbs and debris in Myrtle Beach were cleaned up by Sunday, city spokesman Mark Kruea said.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount of work ... In most places it’s hard to tell we had a storm,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.