North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. If you’ve observed unusual hues in the ocean during the last week, there’s a scientific explanation.
Heavy rainfall from a potential storm, which dropped up to 20 inches in southeastern North Carolina, has begun to flow into the Atlantic, taking soil and debris with it.
“Even from there, the Waccamaw (River) goes down into Conway, even into Georgetown, and it does connect to the Atlantic,” News13 meteorologist Hannah Rahner said. “So even though all of the flood concerns were in North Carolina, we still have to get that nasty water down to our viewing area, and it does intercept our coast as well.”
This is how it works
“Even though the Waccamaw starts in North Carolina, that’s where we’re seeing a lot of that rain kind of concentrate and it has to flow downstream through Horry County, through Longs, Conway, it even connects down to Georgetown and Winyah Bay, so all of that sediment is going down into South Carolina as well even though we saw significantly less rain,” Rahner told me.
The water can also pick up bacteria and chemicals as it travels to the ocean, so experts advise people to be cautious before going to swim.