HORRY CO., (WBTW)- As Hurricane Florence is now a category 4 hurricane, and making it’s way to the coast. The damage it could bring to this area is bringing back memories of Hurricane Hugo.
Darren Miller is prepping his house and getting ready to evacuate. He was 19 when Hugo hit and captured the destruction the category 4 hurricane left in Garden City and Murrells Inlet.
“There were houses that were taken off their pilings and thrown across the marsh from the storm surge; carrying the across the marsh where Sara J’s is now,” said Miller.
One image that will stay with him was throughout all the damage someone put one chair facing the ocean.
“That was kind of the contrast to me. I just sat in the chair and watched the sunset and it just brought it all home at that point,” said Miller.
Photographer Jack Thompson has recorded the aftermath of several hurricanes that hit the Grand Strand, and the 140 mile per hour winds from Hugo was all too familiar.
“It reminds me of when Hazel hit in 1954, and yes I was here,” said Thompson.
He took a before and after photo of the Surfside Pier when Hazel hit, and he did the same thing for Hugo at the Garden City Pier.
“There was nothing left, but the pilings of the pier and that is the power of Hugo. It’s something that you think would be a nightmare and you’d wake up and it’s a dream,” said Thompson.
