黑料社入口

In the darkness of a Garden City bar, Jennifer Shelley anxiously watched a friend unplug a cord from an electrical outlet.

鈥淏rad, be careful!鈥� she called out as he yanked the cord haphazardly from the wall, laughing as he pulled.

Shelley, a bartender at The Bar near Atlantic Avenue, made her way through a mixture of marshy stormwater, sand, dirt and debris inside her workplace, pointing out the waterline to show how high the ocean got inside. She stopped, pointing to a picture frame and small potted plant sitting atop an HVAC unit resting in the windowsill.聽

鈥淭hat鈥檚 Mr. Bob,鈥� Shelley said.

Robert Soule, or Mr. Bob, was a regular at The Bar, Shelley said. He passed away in 2018 and The Bar received one of his plants. The Bar added a small, framed photo of him to honor the legacy of one of their patrons.

Once Hurricane Ian was done slinging wind and water at the Grand Strand, Shelley made her way to assess the damage it had inflicted. Upon arrival, Mr. Bob鈥檚 photo was the first thing she saw.

鈥淢r. Bob is still with us,鈥� Shelley said. 鈥淭hat made me feel good.鈥�

While seeing Mr. Bob鈥檚 photo was a relief, Shelley said her feelings were hurt when first examining the damage.

鈥淚t鈥檚 personal,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e all love this place and I take care of my family out here. And the people in here are family.鈥�

Shelley said she lost everything in The Bar鈥檚 refrigerator and freezer, adding there鈥檚 plenty of broken beer bottles in the back they hadn鈥檛 gotten around to examining yet.

As the sun rose over Garden City Saturday morning, car after car came rolling through the community. Shelley said it wouldn鈥檛 be too long before locals came through and offered a helping hand.

鈥淚t makes me feel good. It鈥檚 good to know you鈥檙e part of a community that cares about each other,鈥� Shelley said.

Hurricane Ian made landfall near Georgetown Friday afternoon as a Category 1 storm, dumping several inches of rain across the Grand Strand and inundating Garden City with storm surge.

The mixture of heavy rain, storm surge and rising marsh water resulted in businesses and properties along Atlantic Avenue in Garden City to be partially submerged.聽

In an email to top Horry County officials, Emergency Management Director Randy Webster said with much of the county having little to no reported damage, Garden City was the focal point for Saturday.

When the waters receded, the extent of the damage was clearly visible Saturday morning. Tree branches, books and shoes littered Atlantic Avenue.聽

A long stretch of South 黑料社入口 Drive was buried in sand, giving some commuters headaches as they鈥檇 get stuck trying to pass through the storm-made beach.

Crews from Horry County Government and the S.C. Department of Transportation were on hand Saturday morning to clear the roadways.

In his email, Webster said police will be patrolling the area throughout the day and on Sunday if necessary.

As of noon Saturday, North and South 黑料社入口 Drive were closed to all traffic until further notice, according to a statement from HCPD. Only public safety and public works crews will be allowed through.

On another side of Atlantic Avenue, John Thomas was finishing up cleaning the seating area of Garden City Beach Bar & Grill.

Thomas manages the bar and is familiar with hurricane preparation. Ahead of Ian鈥檚 arrival, he made sure to get everything and anything off the floor.聽

鈥淣ormally, if we get it off the floor, a foot or 18 inches, we鈥檙e good. But this storm was a lot higher,鈥� Thomas said, pointing to the walls where an estimated waterline of three feet was visible.

While much of the seating area was spared, the same couldn鈥檛 be said for the kitchen.聽

Refrigerators and freezers that once lined the wall of the kitchen had been tossed around. The ice machine was also flipped upside down. Thomas said he and the staff cannot access the beer cooler because the freezers and refrigerators now block their path.

鈥淲e lost a lot of product,鈥� Thomas said.

Despite the challenges that lie ahead for the bar, Thomas is shooting for the bar to reopen Sunday.

鈥淭he kitchen might not be open tomorrow,鈥� Thomas laughed.聽

Cleaning was first the priority at local coffee shop, Garden City Daily Grind.聽

Anthony Hoagland, who took over the coffee shop in April, hails from Florida. His father owns the Garden City Grocery next to the coffee shop.

The two are no stranger to hurricanes. Hoagland said Ian鈥檚 path reminded him of what Hurricane Charley did in 2004.聽

Like Ian, Charley hit Florida through the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall as a Category 4 storm and then reformed in the Atlantic, making its way to the Carolinas as a Category 1 Hurricane.

鈥淚t was the exact same course as what we saw in Florida,鈥� Hoagland recalled.

While Hoagland felt Ian wouldn鈥檛 be as bad as Charley, he and his father still took the necessary precautions, putting sealant on the doors as high as four feet.聽

Hoagland said he and his father watched the storm arrive through cameras they had installed.

鈥淥nce the ocean came over, all bets were off,鈥� Hoagland said, adding they鈥檙e used to flooding from the marsh nearby but not from both sides. 鈥淭here was no saving it at that point.鈥�

Hoagland said he鈥檚 unsure of how much damage Ian brought to his business, adding reopening isn鈥檛 at the front of his mind.聽

For now, the next step is simple 鈥� clean.

鈥淒o what we can for now, get everything cleaned up, wait for the [county to] clean what they need to clean up outside and try to get back to normal as soon as possible,鈥� he said.