NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Hurricane Isabel caused anxiety and sleepless nights for more than a week as it spun at sea, but in the end the storm spared South Carolina the flooding, damage and heartbreak it brought to points north.

What it did bring into South Carolina was a renewed awareness of hurricanes in a coastal state where thousands of people are transplants from elsewhere and have never experienced a major storm.

A week ago, as Isabel churned at sea as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds and an uncertain objective, South Carolinians flocked to stores along the coast buying everything from bottled water to plywood.

By Thursday, with the storm making landfall in North Carolina, the hurricane brought only some brisk winds and bands of rain to the northeastern corner of South Carolina.

In North Myrtle Beach the highest gust was only 33 mph - below tropical storm strength - and the average wind speed only 13 mph. Less than an inch of rain fell.

But in the days before when Isabel threatened, there were thousands of requests for the state Emergency Management Department's hurricane guide, said Joe Farmer, a spokesman for the agency.

About 530,000 copies of the guide were already distributed in newspaper inserts last June, he said.

"We don't wish for hurricanes to give us a catalyst for public information. But we know the reality is sooner or later, South Carolina will be hit," Farmer said.

The last scare from a major storm was Hurricane Floyd four years ago. The evacuation from that storm turned Interstate 26 between Charleston and Columbia into a parking lot.

And it has been 14 years - the anniversary is Sunday - since Hugo became the last major hurricane to hit South Carolina, its 135 mph winds blowing ashore just northeast of Charleston.

In the decade that followed Hugo, South Carolina's population grew 15 percent to more than 4 million people. Coastal Beaufort and Horry counties led the state in growth.

"Isabel has been an opportunity for us to draw the public's attention to some of the issues they need to be turned to - from insurance and evacuation routes to what do you do with your pet and the kind of supplies to take," Farmer said.

One relatively recent transplant to the coast is Jason McManus, 29, of Loris, who was at North Myrtle Beach on Thursday watching surfers ride the glassy swells.

McManus moved to South Carolina from Carlisle, Pa., in 1999, shortly before the Floyd evacuation. He took no chances with Isabel.

"I went out and got a generator, water, all the supplies that you need," he said. And while he didn't need those supplies this time "the way I figured when I bought it, I'm prepared for the next one."

The Grand Strand surfers found little to ride as South Carolina was on the backside of the storm, meaning the wind was blowing from the land against the ocean. What was bad for the surfers proved good for the beaches.

"Those winds will flatten out those waves and push the water offshore," said Bill Eiser, an oceanographer with the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.

The agency wasn't expecting any reports of erosion as a result of Isabel.

The state's beaches were in good shape when this hurricane season began. Last year, the state was brushed by two tropical storms and a summer storm system that whipped up northeast winds for several days, causing a good bit of erosion.