Horry County, SC Hurricane Preparedness: Storm Debris (2026)

Sec. 10-19(e) gives county officials emergency power to address widespread vegetative debris fields on public and private rights-of-way after a hurricane, entering property under the county's police powers and immediately taking corrective action and any other steps necessary to protect life and property. This emergency authority is carved out from the standard nuisance-abatement timeline: Sec. 10-19(f) states that the normal rule, giving a property owner 30 days from a notice of violation before the county pursues other legal measures, does not apply to action taken under subsections (d) or (e).

That is a sharp contrast with the county's ordinary public health threat power in Sec. 10-19(d), which still requires 24 hours' notice to the responsible party before officials step in on a routine mosquito-breeding nuisance. During a declared hurricane debris emergency, by contrast, the county is not required to wait even that long before clearing rights-of-way or private property of storm debris. Any violation arising from a failure to clear such debris is deemed a public nuisance in its own right, Sec. 10-42(h). If the county incurs costs abating a debris nuisance and the resulting bill goes unpaid for 60 days, the county can foreclose a lien for the abatement charges or collect them the same way as county taxes, Sec. 10-22.