City of North Myrtle Beach under state of emergency

The City of North Myrtle Beach has declared a state of emergency in anticipation for the possibility of Hurricane Irma, according to Pat Dowling, public information officer with the city.

The declaration comes after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and President Donald Trump signed an emergency declaration, making federal assistance available to the state.

“We always tie into that strictly because we want to ensure that if we receive anything from the storm and there’s any kind of damage then we can access resources from FEMA,” Dowling said. “You have to have passed those documents in order to participate.”

The documents will be valid for 60 days. The city is also preparing by being at OPCON 4.

“If it decided to come east again we’ll ramp up and we’re prepared,” Dowling said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2017 at 4:41 PM with the headline "City of North Myrtle Beach under state of emergency."