Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach damages from Hurricane Ian exceed $15M in total (2024)

MYRTLE BEACH— Damage to residential and commercial properties in the cities of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach have exceeded $15 million in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

Within their respective city limits, North Myrtle Beach saw $13.1 million in damage, while Myrtle Beach saw about $2.6 million in damage. These damage assessments do not include beach erosion or damage to the sand dunes, which are currently being assessed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In North Myrtle Beach, the most damage— 47.3%—occurred in the Cherry Grove district, located near the Cherry Grove Pier, which lost its mid-section during the storm.

Residential buildings across the city saw the majority of damage to structures across the city.

Donald Graham, the city's public information officer, said municipal officials expected the storm to be severe, but they did not expect the cost estimates of the damage in the storm's aftermath.

"I don't think anyone was really quite expecting it to be this bad," Graham said, regarding the $13.1 million estimate. "You have to add in, though, that we did have a high tide at the time so there was a lot of water damage, especially along the Ocean Boulevard properties."

The city's Planning and Development crews surveyed and inspected every building within the city limits to determine their figures.

Meanwhile, in Myrtle Beach, private homes and businesses saw about $1.6 million in damage, while city properties saw an estimated $1 million. The damaged city property included several dune walkovers, traffic signal cabinets and sewer pump stations, per city officials.

Travis Glatki, the city's emergency management division manager, said that Myrtle Beach saw most of its damage along the beach. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is likely to provide their damage assessments of the beaches within the next week.

"I think quite a bit of it we expected because that's where our biggest concerns were, was the properties closest to the beach," Glatki said, referring to the storm's damage. "We're waiting to see what Horry County puts together, but if our total damages were less than $3 million, then I think we're okay."

The Myrtle Beach City Council is considering waiving building permit fees for Ian-related damage repairs, and it will discuss the matter when it meets at 10 a.m. on Oct. 11. Meetings take place at the Myrtle Beach Police Department, located at 1101 North Oak Street.

"City staff recommends that private property owners make repairs as quickly as possible, unless your insurance company advises otherwise," Glatki said. "Of course, document the damage thoroughly through photographs prior to making any repairs."

North Myrtle Beach City Council has also waived building permit fees for Ian-related storm damage. However, fees for non-storm related construction and repairs will not be waived, per city officials.

In North Myrtle Beach, city cleanup crews are continuing to ask residences to sort their debris in order to help crews remove it more quickly. Residents are being asked to sort their debris into six categories: Electronics, appliances, hazardous materials, vegetative material, construction material and household garbage.

For regular household garbage, city residents should follow the normal garbage/recycling removal schedule.

All city municipalities will turn over their assessments to Horry County, and the county will subsequently turn over all of their assessments to the state for consideration of FEMA emergency relief funds.

"None of that's guaranteed because you have to meet certain thresholds with FEMA," Glatki said. "We're encouraging people not to rely on that right now. Try to go through insurance as much as possible."

Officials from Horry County, which includes Garden City, and officials from the town of Surfside Beach are still compiling their damage assessments from the hurricane.

These damage assessments from Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach comes after Georgetown County's damage from Hurricane Ian has exceeded $53 million. The damage was overwhelmingly, but not exclusively, located along the county's 34-mile coastline, per county officials.

Hurricane Ian made landfall south of Georgetown on the afternoon of Sept. 30 as a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds, after ravaging Florida as a Category 5. It left a path of destruction that included downed trees, power outages, storm surge and torrential rainfall.

No deaths have been reported in S.C. from the storm.