Murrells Inlet native witnesses Hurricane Beryl damage in Saint Lucia

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — At 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, St. Lucian Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre called for a national emergency as the outer bands of Hurricane Beryl hammered the Caribbean island.

Locals piled sandbags in front of their doors as waters crept up several inches into surrounding buildings. Thomas Hodge saw it all.

The Murrells Inlet native and musician traveled to the nation of nearly 200,000 for a steelpan competition at the Saint Lucia National Panorama.

“Two nights ago, we were at a point where the top of the eye is sitting at the top of Saint Vincent,” Hodge said. “That’s right there. You can see it from Saint Lucia.”

Hodge planned to spend eight more days throughout the competition but wanted to call his father, Sam, to make sure it was safe. Sam Hodge is Horry County’s emergency management director.

Hodge told his son the storm was moving toward Trinidad and also knew that being from the south meant Thomas was prepared for the power that hurricanes can bring.

Thomas is staying in Laborie, a village of 700 on St. Lucia’s southern coast. Many of its structures are built from concrete, which kept them from sustaining heavy damage, although severe rain and heavy flooding were common.

“Yesterday at night, you could tell people were starting to see it was getting kind of serious,” Hodge said. “I think it took them to actually see it firsthand.”

Over the weekend, all leave had been canceled for the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force as officers were directed to be on duty by 6 p.m. Sunday.

“This is a pretty unprecedented thing for them,” Hodge said.

Hodge said he’s grateful Beryl spared St. Lucia much of its wrath and now worries for others that are in its path.

“Everyone in Saint Lucia seems to be doing OK. Luckily, our power has held up, and I think that we got the best-case scenario of what could’ve happened,” he said. “It definitely could have been a lot, lot worse.”