Myrtle Beach now out of Irma’s path, opening its doors to evacuees

All week people in Myrtle Beach were wondering if they were going to have to evacuate.

Instead, the coastal beach town could be a place of refuge for evacuees farther south who are in the path of Hurricane Irma.

“We have a lot of visitors coming through from Florida and Georgia, and we want to try and accommodate them as much as we can, just as they would if we were headed in their direction,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said during a press conference Friday evening.

Now outside the cone of uncertainty, northeast South Carolina could see 3 to 5 inches of rain, and has a 10 to 20 percent chance of tropical storm force winds.

According to a Coastal Carolina University lodging update, about 66 percent of vacation rental properties were book between the dates of Sept. 2 through Sept. 8.

“We knew that as of last Wednesday, about 66 percent of the weekely rented vacation homes were booked for tonight going through next Friday night,” Taylor Damonte, a professor at CCU, said. “We don’t know how many of those folks actually showed up today, nor do we know how many people without reservations possibly fleeing the storm may come and stay with us.”

Sites such as Travelocity and Airbnb show that hotel rooms and houses in Myrtle Beach are booking up quickly.

“Eighty-nine percent more people are looking for homes in Myrtle Beach,” the Airbnb site said. “You are coming to town at a popular time. We recommend booking soon.”

Travelocity states that hotel rooms in the area are 90 percent booked.

KOA Campground in Myrtle Beach has about 250 empty campsites that will be available for evacuees for 48 hours at no cost, according to a release from the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.

The site, located at 613 5th Ave. South, has full hookups for water and sewer. The campgroud can be contacted at 800-562-7790.

Various Grand Strand hotels are offering discounts to evacuees from Georgia and Florida, according to the Chamber of Commerce.

For Melania Shonka, front desk supervisor at Staybridge Suites Myrtle Beach West, located along Fantasy Harbour Blvd., the amount of people booking at the hotel is slowly increasing.

“We are slowly seeing people from Florida,” Shonka said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2017 at 9:16 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach now out of Irma’s path, opening its doors to evacuees."