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.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
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.