Horry County, SC Hurricane Preparedness: Flood Elevation (2026)

Section 9-52 of the Horry County Code sets the specific elevation standards that apply in zones A, AE, AH, AO and A1-30, and in supplemental flood zones, wherever FEMA or the county has established a base flood elevation. New construction and substantial improvement of any residential structure, including manufactured homes, must have its lowest floor elevated no lower than two feet above the base flood elevation, and basements are not permitted at all. If solid perimeter foundation walls are used to elevate the structure, flood openings must be built in to automatically equalize hydrostatic forces.

Non-residential, commercial and industrial structures face the identical two-foot freeboard floor and basement ban, but in A-zones an owner may floodproof rather than elevate, provided a professional engineer or architect certifies the structure's walls are watertight and can resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads, with certification filed under Section 9-33(b)(1). These standards sit inside the county's broader floodplain management program administered by the local floodplain administrator under Article II, and they apply across every unincorporated flood zone from the Waccamaw and Intracoastal Waterway frontage through Socastee and Carolina Forest, not just the immediate oceanfront. The rules were adopted by Ordinance No. 68-2021 and amended by Ordinance No. 152-2022.