8 years later, a look back at Hurricane Matthew

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Eight years ago today, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in McClellanville, South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, causing devastating impacts across the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.

HURRICANE MATTHEW

Matthew ended a long period of hurricane-free years in the Grand Strand and South Carolina. It was the first hurricane to hit South Carolina since Hurricane Gaston in 2004.

At its peak, Matthew was a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 160 miles per hour in the central Caribbean. Luckily, by the time of landfall, Matthew weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 miles per hour.

Matthew officially made landfall near McClellanville at 10:45 a.m. on October 8th. A few hours later, the center of the storm crossed directly over Myrtle Beach.

Flash flooding occurred during the morning as heavy rain fell across the region. At 11 a.m., Matthew’s eye wobbles ashore near McClellanville. Just after 12 p.m., the National Weather Service in Wilmington issued its first flash flood emergency for Horry County as flooding became widespread and life-threatening.

Flooding claimed two lives in Florence County and another in Dillon County. The center of Matthew made its way up the coast and passed right through Myrtle Beach at 2 p.m. The highest storm surge since Hurricane Hugo raged ashore, destroying dunes and the piers at Springmaid and Surfside Beach.

As the storm passed, hurricane-force wind gusts hit the Grand Strand. Gusts of 60 to 70 mph blew through the Pee Dee. Trees fell, the power went out and at the end of the day 834,000 people were left in the dark.

Rainfall totals reached 10 to 17 inches in many areas, with the highest rainfall in the state coming from Dillon, where the official rainfall total reached 17.22 inches – a 1,000-year rainfall total.

The aftermath

On October 9, a region was in shock and submerged. The Lumber and Waccamaw rivers were quickly flooded by Matthew’s rains and began to rise.

Nichols, Latta, Mullins and Lumberton quickly fell into flooding disaster.

On October 10, the Lumber River exceeded the previous flood elevation by five feet. Interstate 95 was closed and some residents were rescued from their roofs. Nichols residents were amazed at how quickly the water rose as the entire town was flooded.

Flooding continues Oct. 11 along the Lumber River as the Waccamaw begins to rise. The Waccamaw River rose to 18 feet and recorded flood stage until Hurricane Florence hit two years later.

BY THE NUMBERS

• 355,000 displaced citizens.
• 1,929 houses damaged or destroyed
• 25 dams broken
• 1,979,308 cubic meters of storm debris
• 866,000 household power outages

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