Debby impacts taking a toll on Myrtle Beach
Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby provides the latest updates on flooding and beach erosion in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, associated with impacts from Debby on Aug. 7.
Transcript
00:00And joining us right now is Aaron Rigsby. He is live right now in Myrtle Beach.
00:06Myrtle Beach in the right front quadrant. And you know, Aaron, there's just been
00:09this persistent southeasterly wind coming in the Myrtle Beach now for over
00:14the last two days. And it really has to be taking its toll on the beaches.
00:19Yeah, good morning guys. You're absolutely right. And I'm actually gonna touch base
00:23on that a little bit here, especially on the northern end of Myrtle Beach. You can
00:26actually see behind me some significant beach erosion that has been occurring
00:30with Debbie, with these tides that have continued to push in.
00:35You can see how much it's worked its way up. It's rushing back out.
00:40And you get another push to come back in with these big waves. So it's
00:43definitely taking a toll on the beaches here. And we're really starting to see
00:46those gusty winds that you talked about associated with Debbie today. Upwards of
00:4950 miles an hour sustained at times. And while you're out in Myrtle, last time I
00:54talked to you, you were in Savannah. How did things end up shaping up there for you?
00:59Savannah, Georgia, overall ended up pretty good. Debbie kind of moved over
01:04there really slowly. There were some ice-shielded cases of flash flooding.
01:08There was a few stalled vehicles, but overall they fared fairly well as it took,
01:12you know, it was kind of moving a little bit quicker through Savannah. And that's
01:15not saying much. It went from like two miles an hour to about six miles an hour.
01:18Overall, Savannah fared fairly well. But as we get further north there, when the
01:22coastal stalled, we saw those rain bands kind of draining over the same areas as we saw
01:26the surge. You know, big impacts, especially yesterday in North Myrtle Beach.
01:30Well, we're getting, yeah, we're seeing a video right now, yesterday of Myrtle
01:35Beach with water in the streets. I assume every time we get a high tide,
01:39this is a problem that's going to repeat itself?
01:43Yeah, absolutely. Especially today and into tomorrow when Debbie's core
01:47approaches, because we're going to see the stronger winds approaching. We're
01:50going to see that constant onshore flow as those high tides come in. And I expect
01:54to see a couple of similar cases this evening. And similar areas that saw those
01:57impacts yesterday. Yesterday was actually, a lot of that flash flooding occurred
02:01within about 30 to 45 minutes. I'll tell you how strong that rain band was that just
02:05moved over the same area and it came right at high tide. So once the water started
02:09to drain, the people had thought that it was over. And then immediately after that
02:13night, it started to push back forward. You can see the storm surge getting
02:16pushed forward as high tide came in with an additional two to three feet on
02:20top of the high tide. Aaron Rigsby live for us in Myrtle Beach. Storm Chaser,
02:25we appreciate your coverage live outside. And also all the video you've
02:27been sending back really helps to paint the story of Debbie and all the flooding.