Photos, video, waves, erosion: It's the Hurricane Irene Lowcountry roundup

Image by MDG-Graphix.net Irene's chop off the South Carolina coast.

This morning the much-anticipated landfall of Hurricane Irene is due to come near North Carolina's Outer Banks.

The storm is not the strongest ever seen (max sustained winds of 90 MPH) but its trajectory up the Northeast coast is causing concern for wind damage and flooding. And even just a bit up the coast in Myrtle Beach there's been a good bit more hand-wringing.

But I won't talk too much about what's happening up there (if you're curious, head to The New York Times), instead I'll talk about what Irene was in the Lowcountry.

An offshore storm always brings out the crowds to watch the waves and big waves do lure surfers — and even a couple geniuses who jumped from the Folly Beach pier into the surf.

The storm also wrought public service closures and sporting event rescheduling.

But it wasn't all fun and games as concerns arose of canceled vacation plans in the threat and wake of the storm leaving a negative economic impact — but South Carolina does stand to gain in the form of folks in North Carolina in elsewhere rebooking in South Carolina.

And as always, storms mean more beach erosion (Live 5 News has a video report from Folly) and flooding hit all over the coast from downtown Charleston to Folly to Sullivans (ABC News 4 has a writeup with photos.) 

And it didn't take long for the storm to knock out power to Folly Beach (ABC News 4 has a report.)

Still the bigger story remains with North Carolina, and Gov. Nikki Haley is sending three S.C. National Guard helicopter teams to assist in search and rescue efforts.

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