Home Care In Sullivans Island, SC

FOX Weather Meteorologist Steve Bender breaks down everything you need to know for the nor'easter anticipated to slam the eastern U.S. this weekend, with heavy rain, high winds, and coastal flooding expected.

SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C. – The Carolinas are bracing for coastal impacts from a powerful nor'easter expected to blast the East Coast beginning Friday.

Gusty winds, heavy rain and coastal impacts such as flooding and beach erosion are possible.

(Bayne Froney / FOX Weather)

For areas in both North and South Carolina already battered by recent rough surf from hurricanes Humberto and Imelda, the threat of more flooding and beach erosion presents a danger to homes already impacted by erosion.

Nine homes collapsed in just a few days along the beach in Buxton and Rodanthe, North Carolina, from late September into early October. In total, 21 homes have collapsed along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore since 2020.

Several other homes at risk of collapse sit abandoned along those beaches.

The impacts from this nor'easter will stretch from the Carolinas into New England through Tuesday.

A Level 2 out of 4 flash flood risk has been issued for coastal North Carolina on Saturday.

FOX Weather Meteorologist Bayne Froney reported from Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, on Thursday, where King Tides were still impacting conditions, bringing rough surf and causing beach erosion.

A cold front brought a drastic temperature shift to the East Coast on Thursday morning.

"We've been dealing with these conditions all day, thanks to that cold front," Froney said. "The surf has been intense all day long."

Overall, rainfall closer to the coast looks to amount to a widespread 2-3 inches through Monday, according to the FOX Forecast Center. Localized rainfall amounts closer to 5 inches are possible as well.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The Friends of Charleston National Parks joined South Carolina’s Sea Grant and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for their 36th Annual Beach Sweep on Sullivan’s Island by Fort Moultrie to collect trash from beaches.

Families and community members across the Lowcountry came out to clean and help protect the beaches on Sullivan’s Island, collecting everything from different plastics to cans.

“The mission for today is really just to get everybody out and about connected with nature, connected with the beach, and really participate in cleaning up the areas that we all love and to help keep a beautiful future for our beaches and for our public lands,” Friends of Charleston National Parks Member Amy Meola said.

Since 1988, South Carolinians have come together every third Saturday in September to clear trash from our beaches and waterways, just like the 36th Annual Beach Sweep.

“Everybody laughing, smiling, having a great time. You know, we just need more of that in the world,” U.S. Coast Guard Seaman and volunteer Will Jones said.

Volunteers were given a trash bag, gloves and a trash picker to help them with their cleanup.

“If we keep throwing it on the ground and bringing it to the beach. All the wildlife is going to get sick, and we don’t want that,” volunteer Sebastain Killian said.

Many children participated in the beach sweep, showing that anyone can help make an impact.

“Sea turtles have found a lot of plastic bags that they think are jellyfish and are eating them, and it gets caught in their throat,” Girl Scout volunteer Katelyn Rising said.

“We’re all part of a community, and if our whole community works together, we can stop this nonsense,” volunteer Penelope Killian said.

“Good to teach kids about learning and sharing their community at a very young age. So, they know better when they get older,” Girl Scout volunteer Hannah Mayhew said.

Volunteers collected an entire truckload of trash and debris from the beach.

“It’s nothing to pick up some trash, throw it away, recycle, do all the good stuff. Man, take care of the environment, take care of us,” Jones said.

“You don’t have to be an expert. You don’t need to know about pollution or the ocean. It’s just showing up and taking a nice walk, and just picking up some trash, and it makes a bigger difference than you would think.” Meola said.

“Coming together as a community, doing what we can to preserve the lands and preserve the history that they hold so that they stay intact for future generations,” volunteer Hanna Goble said.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A Sullivan’s Island stable that has been abandoned for decades may soon get a new lease on life if a new plan is approved.

The Sullivan’s Island Design Review Board will consider the final designs for the project involving the nearly century-old Fort Moultrie Post Theater on Wednesday.

The landmark has a long history, starting as a military theater. It hosted movie showings, war bond drives and various ceremonies. After the fort was decommissioned in 1947, it became an island asset and later became a private theater that could seat 406 people.

Later, it became a warehouse and has sat vacant for decades.

Cissell Design Studio principal and architect Anthony Cissell hopes to change that by making it into a single-family home while preserving its rich history.

“Our goal with this project is really that when we’re done, this should still look like the landmark building that Sullivan’s Island has known for nearly 100 years,” Cissell said.

However, Cissell said the old building faces modern problems.

“If we were to have a flood right now that were to enter this building, it would damage a lot of the historic woodwork would damage a lot of the spaces,” Cissell said.

That’s why they plan to raise the interior three feet above the surrounding grade.

“There’s a lot of historic wood trim around door openings, and things of that nature that we’re going to be carefully cataloging, moving, and then we’re using in the new design in the same locations wherever possible,” Cissell said.

The current plans have the section closest to the former stage remaining open and as the main centerpiece to the living area.

The entrance to the grand space would also be kept intact, with the original theater doors from the 1930s staying in place, just raised up to protect from flooding.

Cissel said they’re considering applying for the historic tax credit program, which would provide an additional layer of feedback from the state Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service.

BVL Historic Preservation Research specializes in helping its clients take part in that tax program.

“They not only have to sensitively restore the exterior, but they also have to do the interior as well in order to be eligible for the tax credits when all is said and done,” BVL Historic Preservation Research owner and architectural historian Brittany Lavelle Tulla said.

Lavelle Tulla said she’s hoping the project undergoes that intensive process, because buildings like this one are important to the community.

“Sometimes we do see buildings get demolished, and often times it’s not until the building is gone that we understand the power that it has on the street in the situation. The exterior character of that building does have a lot of weight. It’s almost like this anchor on Sullivan’s Island, yes, it pays testimony and it survives as evidence of Sullivan’s Island’s military background, but it also, again, is that unique piece of architecture that keeps Sullivans island, Sullivans Island,” Lavelle Tulla said.

Cissel said he believes that before his team took over the project, the designs were headed in a direction that may have taken away from its unique character and he wanted to reset the goal for the project.

“Let’s stop for a minute, let’s listen to the building and listen to what the building is telling us it wants to be for the next hundred years of its life, and I think that’s what we’ve done,” Cissell said.

A historic marker stands outside the building, indicating that it was completed in May of 1928 at a cost of $19,500.

Cissell said he and the family plan to work with Sullivan’s Island staff to figure out what works best to continue to have some form of historical marker on the property after the project is complete.

Click here to see the design plans in the Sullivan’s Island Design Review Board agenda.

The board will consider final approval for the project on Wednesday.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The Town of Sullivan’s Island Public Facilities Committee discussed the future welcome sign onto the island at a meeting on Friday afternoon after facing community backlash against the sign.

The town was asked by the to add a temporary sign on the island to acknowledge the role it played in securing American independence as part of the anniversary next year. The controversy comes from the original idea for the welcome sign to read “The Gateway to Liberty Since 1776” to honor the Battle of Sullivan’s Island during the Revolutionary War.

Some residents pushed back against it, saying it overlooks a painful part of the island’s history. The National Park Service says were forced to quarantine on Sullivan’s Island in pest houses prior to being sold at markets in downtown Charleston.

Committee officials said all of the meetings prior to the approval of that phrase were open to the public, and they encouraged the community to take part in coming up with what the sign was going to say. They said it was only after the approval that they started to receive communications from residents about the disapproval of the sign’s phrase.

A sign with the original phrase had been ordered, but then was put on pause after the town kept receiving community pushback.

Jody Latham is a town councilmember and said she’s mortified that she didn’t think of the entire history of the island when discussing the original welcome sign phrase.

“Once someone brought it up, I was just adamant that I don’t think we could continue,” Latham said. “I couldn’t continue wholeheartedly, and thankfully, we have a very responsive town council, and they listened to what people said.”

With no time limits on public comment during the meeting, many residents shared their concerns about the phrase and offered suggestions for a new slogan that wouldn’t create division amongst the town.

Some new phrases mentioned include “History lives here” and “Revolution and resilience.”

One resident against the original phrase said, “lands hard and fails to recognize the complex, painful part of our history,” and another said it’s “too broad and narrow of a name.”

A resident who supports the original idea said the “focus shouldn’t be on mistakes made” and how the town “should celebrate the importance of the battle that was fought.”

A few residents also said they thought the phrase encapsulated one of the major victories of the town: the Battle of Sullivan’s Island.

Town officials affirmed to the community that the original phrase is now gone and there will be more opportunities for community input moving forward.

“I think we were wrong on this and we need to find better words,” Ned Higgins, town councilmember and member of the public facilities committee, said.

The temporary welcome sign’s phrase is now back on the drawing board with plans for it to go up before July 4 of next year.