The Isle After the Storm

Lowcountry residents reflect and rebuild

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At first it seemed like an ordinary storm. But as heavy rains and high winds from a December 17 nor'easter combined forces with the sea, residents of the South Carolina coast were met with historic flooding and the "highest non-tropical tide on record." The Isle of Palms, which has struggled with beach erosion and has remediation projects in the works, saw massive swaths of sand washed away. Flood waters lapped at doorsteps and spilled into pools. Many residents were reminded of Hurricane Hugo, the region's high water mark. After the storm passed, we spent a cool, sunny afternoon surveying the damage and gathering the stories of the people who define the character of the Isle of Palms.

All We Want for Christmas: The Rush to Repair

We first encountered Mike (right), who works for Exclusive Properties, as he was fixing a beach access staircase near Front Beach. "[I'm] removing the broken deck, making it safe," he told us. "Friday's Christmas holidays, so a lot of check-ins. Just gotta get 'em safe for customers."

As stark as the erosion was near Front Beach, the damage down the road was worse, he said. Near the southwest edge of the island, "the high tides and waves pretty much washed the docks and piers all the way back to the houses. Some of the houses' swimming pools actually got washed out into the sand." Mike said. He estimated 20-25 feet of sand dunes had suffered from erosion. "About 20 swimming pools got washed out; a lot of docks washed around to Breach Inlet."

We left Mike to his work and set about finding other stories, not yet knowing that we would meet again.

The Storm's Silver Lining: Surfers Ride the Waves

"Whenever there's hurricanes, and like this northeaster we just had, of course it does damage the beach and pushes the dunes way back and it causes a lot of erosion, but it also does make for great waves." said wetsuit-clad Hannah Floyd (right). "So it's good and bad."

Floyd lives in Mount Pleasant and has been surfing since the age of seven. "I know whenever hurricane season comes, that's when a lot of the surfers come out," she said. "That's why I came out here."

"It's been a great week; it's been just like this, " she said, gesturing toward the water at Front Beach, where a handful of surfers were catching waves. "The calm after the storm, as they say: Glassy, not a lot of wind, perfect curls, perfect barrels. Yeah, [it] makes for good surfing conditions for sure."

Protect and Serve: But Don't Fight Mother Nature

Officer Dustin Griffin (right) works the Front Beach beat. Also a veteran, he has earned some perspective on life, death, and the power of nature. Working his first shift since the storm, he was taking in the scene as he made his rounds. "My first impression is just, yeah, it hit us a lot harder than we thought it was gonna be," said Griffin. "I know the entryway to the Windjammer was under construction because it got wiped out to the beach."

"It's just one of those, I think, [it's] time to rebuild," he said. "One thing you can't fight is Mother Nature. All we can do is rebuild and keep moving forward." After a warm conversation, the officer received a call on his radio, and he quickly excused himself, not to fight Mother Nature, but perhaps to come to someone's rescue or fight a bit of crime, something more manageable than a storm surge.

Shop Talk: Tales of the Flood

Nancy Lauseng had the scoop on the state of the island and photos from her own backyard to boot. Lauseng works at My Favorite Things, a local gift shop known for its 26-year-old talking parrot and its live hermit crabs in brightly painted shells. The shop is owned by Lauseng's sister.

Lauseng confirmed Mike's account of the end of the island. "Around 3rd Avenue [the] swimming pools are all up. It's a mess," she said. "There's marsh grass everywhere and pieces of houses, fences, and it's just a big mess down there."

An Isle of Palms resident who lives on 22nd Street, Lauseng also had her own storm story to share. "We had water all the way up to our top step, we were afraid it was gonna come in the house, it was so high, but luckily we missed it by about six inches," she said with a smile and a laugh. "Just barely. We kept checking to make sure: 'Where're we at?' Luckily it didn't get in our cars or in our house. Everything else it got in. All my husband's tools in the shed, not sure if they're gonna survive or not because a lot of it got wet."

As she scrolled through photos on her phone, we noticed a brightly painted red and white shed submerged in water. This reporter couldn't help but compliment the structure: "That looks like a nice shed."

Her quick-witted reply: "Well it was."

Family Matters: Father-Daughter Team Document the Shoreline

Anthony (right) and Parrish Dow came from Summerville to check out the scene at the beach. The storm hadn't seemed too overwhelming back at their house. Anthony, who also works as a DJ, surveyed the damage to the pier by way of his drone while his daughter Parrish took photographs with her still camera. They explained that their shared interest in photography and documentation made for some good father-daughter time while mom had a sandwich at the Windjammer. "[It's] a family trip, to come out here," said Parrish. "Just taking pictures."

"It didn't really hit us where we were at," said the elder Dow with a smile and a shrug. "I mean, it's crazy to think that if a hurricane comes it's gonna be really crazy. It's gonna get messed up if that's what that storm did."

Dow focused on his drone as he talked. "That's all I got out of it, I mean my family's from Buffalo, so that's not a storm, you know. It's kinda like a rainy day," he said with a friendly smile.

"I just think it was a lot of water in Charleston," said his daughter. "From the videos I've seen it was a lot of water."

Even after the storm, the Dows thought the beach hadn't lost its luster.

"I'm just flying a drone on Isle of Palms, that's it," smiled Anthony. "Just getting some good shots of the beautiful scenery."

Sunset on the Isle of Palms: Still Pretty 

We met up with Mike again near the 2nd Avenue Beach Access Path. He stood on the edge of what remained of a swimming pool and monitored a Cat excavator as it dug and moved sand. Decks stood askew; pool walls had been ripped away. The beach was marked with the tracks of heavy machinery and the defeated remnants of buried sand bags.

Everything we'd heard was true. The damage was just as severe as he and Nancy Lauseng had promised. The storm's wrath was awesome in its ability to make humanity's structures seem fleetingly fragile.

It will surely be a tough job to complete repairs before the holidays. The impact of this storm underscored the dangers of living on the edge, the need to respect and prepare for the power of Mother Nature. And yet, the island's residents remained optimistic and resilient. Most homes withstood the flood; what was lost was being rebuilt. The ocean waves were indeed glassy and beautiful. Despite the storm's damage, the sunset over the water was still a stunning sight to behold.