Last month, many marinas and possibly hundreds of boats were damaged by Hurricane Matthew’s storm surge as it made its way north from south Florida through the Carolinas and Georgia.
Local news reports and social media posts gave some details about the impact of the hurricane on marinas, including showing a devastated marina in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, another marina underwater at Hilton Head, Island, South Carolina. Facebook postings showed broken and damaged docks along the St John’s River in Florida. St Augustine, Florida, was inundated by the storm surge.
Boat US, which insures tens of thousands of US boaters, said that it would take time to estimate how much damage was caused to the marinas and other boating communities in Hurricane Matthew’s path. “We don’t think there was significant damage in South Florida,” Scott Croft, vice president of Public Affairs at Boat US. “We’re still assessing North Carolina and Georgia and won’t have numbers for at least a week.”
Waterfront cities in South Florida, including Miami, Ft Lauderdale and West Palm Beach were spared the brunt of Hurricane Matthew, while others farther north claimed they “dodged the bullet” as the hurricane moved slightly offshore. Tourist destinations like St Augustine and Hilton Head, however, were flooded by the hurricane’s storm surge.
