A look back at Hurricane Florence’s impacts on Grand Strand, Pee Dee 6 years later

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Saturday marks the six-year anniversary of Hurricane Florence making landfall in South Carolina.

It was one of the most devastating hurricanes for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee in recent years, with river flooding impacting many people for days after the storm passed.

The National Weather Service estimated damages in North Carolina to be nearly $17 billion and in South Carolina to be about $600 million.

Florence was a large and slow-moving storm that made landfall near Wilmington on Sept. 14, 2018. After landfall, the storm slowed down a lot. It moved close to just 1 mph at one point.

Florence spent two days producing record-breaking rainfall in the Carolinas. In our area, parts of Lumberton and Loris saw more than 22 inches of rain, including a record-breaking 23-plus inches in Loris.

River flooding then developed over the coming days. Many rivers, including the Lumber and Waccamaw, rose to record levels.

Nearly 1,000 homes and businesses near the Waccamaw River were flooded. In some areas of Horry County, there was up to eight feet of water inside homes.

At least one community in western Horry County was isolated for 10 days because of flooding.

Stormtracker13 Meteorologist James Hopkins talked about the impact on residents who lived along waterways.

“Some of them just rebuilt their homes from Matthew, just to have — two years later, a little less than two years later, Hurricane Florence do the same thing,” he said.

Hurricane Florence also killed 51 people across the Carolinas and damaged or shut down hundreds of roads in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.

Interstate 95 was closed on both sides of the state line. In Lumberton, it was shut down for a week.

Hopkins also talked about a similarity between Hurricane Florence and our most recent system, Tropical Storm Debby.

“So, when preparing for Tropical Storm Debby to come through just a month ago, of course, forecast models were showing it slowing down, so it brings back memories of Hurricane Florence,” he said. “But, of course, not breaking any rainfall records with that one. But, when we’re talking about the river flooding, that we just dealt with a month ago, think about where we were there. Hurricane Florence was seven feet higher than that.”

Hopkins said it took about a year for people who live near the rivers to tear down their damaged homes and rebuild them after Florence.

The wind from Florence also knocked out power to more than 75% of customers in Robeson County.

Hopkins said before a hurricane like Florence, residents’ only options are to evacuate or put their homes on stilts.

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Skylar Musick is a multimedia journalist at News13. Skylar is originally from Long Island, New York. She joined the News13 team in June 2024 after graduating from Villanova University in May 2024. Follow Skylar on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook , or Instagram , and read more of her work here .

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