A Socastee family whose home flooded from Hurricane Florence now has something else to worry about. 

The Smith family said looters took advantage of their empty home last week. 

They have been working over the past couple weeks to get everything out of their house ruined by flood waters. They wear masks to work in the house during the day, but the home is too moldy and smelly for them to sleep in. At night they’ve been staying with other family in the area.

One night while they were gone, Josh Smith said looters came in and took whatever they could get their hands on. 

“Every drawer, every box, every room, every door,” he said. “I mean they searched the place good.”

He listed some items off the top of his head: batteries, lotion, fingernail polish, purses and luggage. “Anything they could see that was worthwhile I guess they took,” he said. “And some stuff that I thought weren’t worthwhile.”

Some of the items stolen can’t be replaced. “My knife that I got overseas while I was in the air force, they took it.”

Josh said the knife was hard to lose, but not the hardest. “Probably my little girl’s piggy bank, I guess,” he said. “Because it was important to her, so that makes it important to me.”

He’s installed cameras all around his property. They have helped calm his worry but not his frustration. 

“You’re already flooded out. Just about everything you own is ruined, and for somebody to come go through what little bit you have left is just kind of sad.”

The Smiths filed a police report. A spokesperson for the Horry County Police Department confirmed Tuesday that the case is still open. 

News13 asked if there had been other reports of storm looting. Spokesperson Mikayla Moskov said that there is no charge for looting and that there is no way for the department to differentiate looting cases from robbery or burglary cases.