Pawleys Island: Hit hard by Hurricane Ian; now works hard to clean up
PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — The Atlantic Ocean waves were finally back to normal on the Pawleys Island coast Saturday, except for the pieces of pier floating in it - evidence of the destruction from Hurricane Ian.
The small island, hit hard by the storm, now works hard to clean up. Crews cleared sand from the roadways, retrieved debris and recovered items that traveled across floodwaters.
Property owners set to work washing.
"That was the biggest thing, trying to get the pressure washer to kind of get some of this stuff moving," property owner, Craig Childress said.
AFTERMATH: Assessing Hurricane Ian damage and clean-up efforts
Other things are harder to fix, such as beach erosion. The nice, luscious dunes have been washed away by the storm surge.
"We had recently done a beach renourishment two years ago," Mayor of the Town of Pawleys Island, Brian Henry said. "Thankfully, because of we hadn’t it would’ve been much much worse. We probably would’ve had buildings and homes that were compromised."
With no real damage to structures, it was a much brighter picture than the day before.
"All in all, we’re going to be OK and we have all the resources we need that will be here to clean it up," Mayor Henry said.
Police said the roads opened at 8 a.m. Monday and asked people to be careful as there is still debris along the sides of the roads.
Some beach accesses are closed due to damage including the county lot.
