Cherry Grove likely to flood in major storm

“Prince Resort” and “Towers on the Grove”: Critics question a state decision to let the developers put four condominium towers along the ocean in one of the most flood prone areas of the state, saying a hurricane could cause millions in damage.

But state regulators say the towers were approved because $20 million worth of beach re-nourishment has stabilized the shoreline in the Cherry Grove area of North Myrtle Beach.

The sand created so much new beach that officials with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control reduced restrictions on what could be built on the beach and how close it could be built to the ocean.

“This was a terrible idea,” Stan Riggs, a professor at East Carolina University and nationally known coastal geologist and erosion expert. “These shorelines all along the Atlantic are eroding.”

Riggs said the bigger buildings along the seashore will put more people in peril when the next hurricane hits.

A total of four oceanfront towers are planned for Cherry Grove - two 17-story buildings in Prince Resort and twin 20-story towers called the Towers on the Grove. They are by far the biggest structures ever planned for Cherry Grove.

“It’s just a clear-cut, simple matter under DHEC’s regulations,” said Larry Brumfield, a project manager for the Prince Resort. “We’ve met the requirements.”

The area, just south of the North Carolina state line, has historically had some of the worst flooding in the nation.

North Myrtle Beach has ranked 55th nationally in repeat flood insurance losses since 1978 - higher than any other South Carolina city, according to a National Wildlife Federation study. And Cherry Grove is the most flood-prone section of North Myrtle Beach.

“Cherry Grove is more susceptible to damage because it is basically an island,” said Tom Barstow, North Myrtle Beach fire chief. “It is fairly low. The result is a lot of water damage.”

Source: Wilmington Star, Wilmington, NC