Thursday 4 p.m. update: Sun shines in Hilton Head and Beaufort but ocean danger persists
Despite sunny skies and a packed beach parking lot Thursday morning at Coligny Beach on Hilton Head Island, large gusts of wind, intense ocean waves and red flags flying from beach patrol trucks served as a reminder of Hurricane Milton’s fleeting presence in the Lowcountry.
Just hours from high tide the 12:30 briefing from Ron Morales, a meteorologist at the Charleston office of the National Weather Service, said that with clear skies and cool weather people may be tempted to go to the beach, but with a high risk for deadly rip currents and high surf advisory through Friday, it would be quite dangerous to swim.
Currently, Beaufort County is under the current weather advisories:
- Tropical storm warning
- Coastal flood advisory through Thursday at 5 p.m.
- High risk of deadly rip currents until Thursday at 8 p.m.
- High surf advisory through Friday at 8 p.m.
The NWS projects that saltwater inundation will impact some roads and that localized beach erosion will likely occur. Minor to moderate coastal flooding could occur over the next two days, the NWS projected.
Thursday afternoon in Beaufort
In the Beaufort area, lasting damage from Helene seemed to outweigh the local impacts of Milton as the storm concluded its path through Florida. As it moved into the Atlantic Ocean at 2 p.m., the National Hurricane Center announced the system still carried hurricane-force winds but had become a post-tropical cyclone, which can occur as storms reach higher latitudes and encounter colder air.
Along Bay Street and Ribaut Road near downtown Beaufort, more than a half-dozen boats remained beached on the coastline after Helene’s strong winds pulled them out of the nearby marina. While Helene’s storm surge overtook the seawall at the waterfront park two weeks prior, the waters were relatively subdued Thursday afternoon, even during the 2 p.m. high tide that meteorologists said brought the highest risk of storm surge in Beaufort County.
Laura Patterson, a guide at the Sea Island Carriage Company in Beaufort, said their employees noticed an uptick in customers from Florida who had fled from Helene and now from Milton.
”We’re praying for all of them,” Patterson said. She said she was glad the company’s horse-drawn carriage tours of downtown Beaufort could offer a distraction to those seeking refuge from the recent storms, some of whom didn’t know whether their homes were still standing.
At the Sands Beach in Port Royal, erosion from Helene helped create huge pools of tidewater across what once is typically the public beach’s driveway and parking lot. Many visitors removed their shoes and bunched up their pant legs to wade their way to the beach, while others searched for shells and sharks’ teeth in the knee-deep water.
A short distance away, the Henry Robinson Boardwalk remained closed after Helene’s powerful waves washed away large stretches of the walkway, turning the observation deck into an inaccessible island. Officials say repairs could be completed by the end of this year.
Overnight update
From the late hours Wednesday night into the early hours Thursday, Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida and tore across the middle of the state as it moved toward the state’s east coast.
The then Category 3 hurricane brought historic rain — nearly 17 inches to Pinellas and Hillsborough counties (which includes Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Tampa) in just six hours — storm surge and coastal flooding from Charlotte Harbor to Fort Myers and dozens of tornadoes to the central and eastern parts of the state, according to reporting from the Tampa Bay Times.
More than three million Floridians are without power as of the afternoon.
As of 6 a.m. Thursday, the Category 1 hurricane had emerged off the eastern coast of Florida and continued to move northeast into the western Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Weather Service out of Charleston. Although Beaufort and Jasper counties are not in the direct path of the storm, coastal flooding, gusty winds and marine conditions are the main local impacts of concern, with conditions expected to improve Thursday evening into Friday.
Expected sustained winds will be between 20-30 mph today, with maximum gusts between 45-50 mph.
Neil Dixon, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service out of Charleston, said that high tide will occur around 2 p.m. Thursday, and that coastal flooding could occur Thursday afternoon into the late afternoon hours on Hilton Head Island. There could be coastal inundation of 2 to 4 feet above normally dry ground in the region, and combined with waves on top of that, Hilton Head might experience significant erosion, Dixon said.
Beaufort County is under the following weather advisories:
- Tropical storm warning
- Coastal flood advisory from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday
- High risk for deadly rip currents through at least Friday night
Local updates:
- The Lowcountry Ferry will be suspending ferry service to Daufuskie Island Thursday and are expected to resume Friday morning.
- Beaufort County facilities and operations are currently scheduled to continue as normally scheduled through the week.
- Thursday and Friday were already off-days for the Beaufort County School District prior to the storm for fall break. After school activities and sports are canceled for Thursday.
This story was originally published October 10, 2024 at 9:13 AM.
