NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – With many models on Tuesday showing Hurricane Florence making landfall just over the North Carolina border, many people already evacuated from the city.
A lot of homes and businesses in North Myrtle Beach have boarded up windows or doors to prepare for Florence. Like Hunter and Susan Platt, who were preparing their house on South Ocean Boulevard for the hurricane.
While they’ve been remodeling the house, Tuesday’s projects were different.
“We got our important things out,” said Susan. “Our pictures and special things.”
“Yeah, because with this kind of storm, the main thing that I worry about in this area is storm surge,” Hunter said.
Out on Kings Highway, workers at NoLimit Customs were protecting their store and auto body shop.
“Pretty much, we boarded up all the windows, we got all the electronics off the ground, putting some garbage bags in case it does get wet in there,” said Adam Salliby, the owner of NoLimit Customs.
Instead of evacuating, some people actually tried to enjoy one more day at the beach after preparing for the storm.
“We’ve got all of our private records and birth certificates and everything packed in our car,” said North Myrtle Beach resident Michelle Bailes. “We’ve got sand bags in front of our door and, if we’re scared of flooding, we put our important stuff upstairs.”
Some like Salliby decided to stay for Florence.
“The looters, people after the storm scare me, not so much the storm,” he said.
But others will leave before Florence makes landfall.
“We have an 18-year-old out of town and she’s just really worried,” said Hunter Platt.
Some will wait for Wednesday’s forecast.
“Because you never know,” Bailes said. “It could change. It could come in. It could go away. We’re waiting.”
People were also out on the oceanfront Tuesday night. Some were taking pictures on their phones, while one man was using a metal detector on the shore.
That’s because the beach could look a lot different in just a few days.