GARDEN CITY, SC (WMBF) – Plenty of people are now taking time to prepare themselves and their properties, while others are making the most of the king tides.
Parts of the South Strand, like Garden City, are expected to see the worst of this week’s king tides, with water projected to reach 8.5 feet on Friday morning.
King Tides occur when the orbits and alignment of the Earth, moon and sun combine to produce high tidal effects.
“I got out on the paddleboard and paddled down Cypress Avenue and Dogwood,” said longtime Garden City resident David Gee. “I got a lot of looks paddling down the road, but got a lot of thumbs up.”
Plenty of people are now taking time to prepare themselves and their properties, while others are making the most of this rare event in the world of weather.(David Gee)
While some have embraced the flooding all week long, low-lying businesses are treading lightly, as they do every year during the king tides.
“Today the wind was out of the northeast, so we knew it was going to be a little worse than usual,” one business owner said.
Getting higher off the ground, all the office furniture inside Dunes Realty Vacation Rentals is sitting on blocks to prevent water damage.
Owner Ryan Swaim said he is pleasantly surprised the tide hasn’t made its way inside.
“We were expecting to possibly get a couple of inches in today; thankfully, we did not,” Swaim said. “There was virtually no water in the street at 9:30, then high tide was at 11 o’clock, and then by noon it was all gone again.”
Other shops on Atlantic Avenue use sandbags lining the bottom of entryways to stop water from seeping in.
Meanwhile, for Gee, who has lived in Garden City for more than two decades, the only good thing about king tides is that the flooding doesn’t linger very long, so businesses typically stay open.
“Usually, a king tide lasts a couple of hours; it’s just like the tide on the ocean,” Gee said. “It’ll come up, get to its crest, and start back down.”
Leaving behind lots of sand and debris on the streets and sidewalks, Gee is warning others to stay off the roads during Friday’s peak tide.
“The county will block the roads, so it’s just a little bit of an inconvenience because you have to go a few blocks, maybe south or north to get to where you’re going,” Gee said.
Make sure to download our free First Alert Weather app to stay updated on king tides and the coastal storm.
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