In the 40 years I have been vacationing in the Myrtle Beach, SC, area, only one serious hurricane has threatened that part of the eastern seaboard. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 walloped Charleston, about an hour and a half south of the Grand Strand, utterly changing the landscape of that city (some would say for the better, since many of the old but shaky buildings were swept away, literally). Residual winds toppled trees south of Myrtle Beach but damage was minimal (unlike in Charleston). The Hugo headlines, combined with the extreme coverage spawned by Katrina in 2005, have caused some folks to limit their choices of golf community homes. They have literally headed for the hills around Asheville and other mountain areas.
That’s a shame because chances are remote that any current retirees moving to a particular area on the coast will endure a major hurricane in their lifetimes. As real estate observer Toby Tobin writes about the Palm Coast of Florida and the illusory threat of a serious hurricane there, “According to NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], a Category 5 hurricane will come within 87 miles of Palm Coast every 220 years on average. I'm 66 years old. Do the math.”
Toby’s article can be found at GoToby.com.