MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WTBW) – Police in Myrtle Beach are ramping up patrol in evacuation zones to keep property safe.
Corporal Thomas Vest took News13 on a ride-along on one of his patrols, where he monitored the Ocean Boulevard area hours before Dorian’s descent onto the Carolinas.
“This was an area that was evacuated so if you look around now you can see there’s not a lot of people down here,” Cpl. Vest said. “It’s important for us to keep driving around this area and make sure our presence is seen.”
Ocean Boulevard was a ghost town Wednesday compared to its normal state.
That was encouraging to Cpl. Vest, who says heeding evacuation orders is critical.
“It’s very empty in comparison to how it is normally which is an excellent thing for us to see here that so many people have heeded that evacuation and have gotten out,” he said. “It seems people have left.”
He warns those who did decide to stay they may not be able to get help from first-responders when conditions deteriorate.
“There will be a time in this storm when it’s not safe for us to respond,” Cpl. Vest said. “So that may delay or make it impossible for us to get to you if you need help.”
He encouraged anyone who has not done so to prepare for the storm before weather becomes severe.
He says the department is ready for anything Dorian throws at it.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “And we’ll react and we’ll be ready. We’ve prepared. We’ll continue to prepare. We critique ourselves after every incident and we get better every time.”
