JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
After Hurricane Ian ravaged Florida, its remnants spiraled out into the Atlantic Ocean and then regained hurricane strength. Earlier this afternoon, Ian made landfall in South Carolina. It may have landed as a less powerful Category 1 storm, but National Hurricane Center officials still warned of life-threatening storm surge along the coast as well as severe flooding throughout the Carolinas and, of course, strong winds. Amanda Bryan lives in the coastal city of Myrtle Beach. That's a little over 30 miles north of where the center of the storm passed. Amanda, welcome.
AMANDA BRYAN: Hi. How are you?
SUMMERS: I'm well. Thank you for talking to us today.
BRYAN: Yes, thank you.
SUMMERS: Amanda, what did you see and hear as the worst came through this afternoon?
BRYAN: The worst came through around an hour ago. We're actually in the middle of getting the backside of the storm now. So our power is kind of flickering on and off as we speak. And the winds have definitely picked up. We rode down to the beach earlier, where we frequent on the golf cart, and the dunes are completely covered.
SUMMERS: The dunes are completely covered, you said. I know you said your power is flickering. How's everything else holding up - your building, your other utilities?
BRYAN: Everything seems to be going just fine. We did have a tree come down in the backyard. And, unfortunately, our neighbor's chicken coop, we had to rescue her chickens. But other than that, just a lot of flying debris. Just blocks from us, the roads are impassable because of the storm surge. It's come over the roads now, so they're closing the streets.
SUMMERS: Yeah. I have to imagine that you and other people there saw some of what happened in Florida. How were you preparing for this storm?
BRYAN: I've actually been a resident here for all of my life, so I've been through some minor and some major hurricanes. I'm just making sure that we have enough water in case we do lose power - of course, you know, for the grill, 'cause that's always a good option. We do have a generator. And just making sure that we're kind of clearing the path for, you know, the limbs that are fallen, if we can get outside to get them down so they're not hanging on the power line or creating other, you know, dangerous situations.
SUMMERS: Your line's dipping in and out a little bit. And we'll just remind people that you said you're getting the back half of that storm right now. Amanda, you mentioned that you've lived in South Carolina your whole life. How does this compare to other storms that you've been through?
BRYAN: Well, I was a child when Hugo came through, but I remember being out of power for at least two weeks, so that was just a crazy situation. But Matthew - I actually lived in Conway during Matthew, and the flooding there, it was just - it was really bad. We didn't - you know, we still haven't recovered fully from that. But here at the beach, this is - in the matter of wind, it's been pretty severe, a lot more than I expected.
SUMMERS: It's hard to hear you say that even as you're weathering the back half of this storm now of Hurricane Ian, your community still hasn't recovered from a storm that happened before. I'd like to ask you before we let you go, how are you feeling right now?
BRYAN: I am feeling pretty good right now. Like I said, we're on the back end of it. So I think a lot of the dangerous winds have already come through. But it's definitely, you know, an anxious feeling to be at the hands of Mother Nature and not know what's going to happen.
SUMMERS: Yeah, I have to imagine that is a lot of anxiety. I hope you and your family are weathering it well and that you stay safe. We have been talking to Amanda Bryan, who we reached in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Amanda, thank you and stay safe.
BRYAN: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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