Posted on January 7, 2026
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Residents in Cherry Grove told ABC 15 that a section of beach on the northern end of Horry County is being left out of a major renourishment project, and now residents are worried about what will happen when the tide’s high or a storm comes.
“I’m a permanent resident, my husband and I. So we’re here 24 seven, 365 days out of the year, and this is just unacceptable,” said Mari Jane Ambrogi, Hoa president of Sea Marsh One.
“It is a very popular spot here, and when the high tide comes in now there’s hardly any beach,” said Rusty Flagg, a concerned resident.
The Grand Strand is undergoing a major $72 million beach renourishment project, spanning from North Myrtle Beach all the way down to Garden City.
The project aims to restore 26 miles of coastline in Horry County, combating erosion from storms and hurricanes.
However, residents in Cherry Grove near 62nd Avenue said their beach is being left out.
“According to the engineer, they were going to do all the way up to the point,” said Flagg.
But the residents said that’s not happening.
“They missed everything north of 61st Avenue, and the sad thing is, North Myrtle Beach, about two years ago, just put a multimillion-dollar public parking lot right next to our building, and that has not been re-nourished. The beach has not been re-nourished,” said Ambrogi.
Ambrogi said the beach at high tide is usually 10 feet wide, and the king tide is about 3 feet from the dunes.
Based on a map of the beach renourishment project, the work goes just past 61st Avenue North along Ocean Boulevard.
“We absolutely need the re-nourishment here,” said Ambrogi.
They said they hope the re-nourishment project gets completed all the way up to the point, as they say, they were originally told.
“When summer gets here, and the storms start up, we’ve had some serious erosion here before,” said Flagg.
ABC 15 took the residents’ concerns straight to the project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers.
After doing an interview with them about this, they said engineers and project staff are assessing the area north of 61st Avenue and will share an update with us on Friday.
