TORONTO -- South Carolina is no stranger to some of the Atlantic's most devastating storms – but when it comes to Hurricane Dorian's strike on that state, what people remember most might be a Jeep and some cannonballs.
Tropical storm-force winds from Dorian hit South Carolina Sept. 5, causing floods and downing power lines. The storm also spawned a tornado that caused some minor damage.
As South Carolinians huddled in their homes, waiting for the storm to pass, many found themselves captivated by the story of a Jeep that somehow ended up caught in the waters that were pounding the shoreline of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The Jeep's origins were initially a mystery, but that didn't stop one local TV station from putting up a livestream of the vehicle as it was slowly subsumed by the rising tide. One man showed up to serenade the Jeep with bagpipes, while one young girl spoofed the whole thing with her own viral video in which she portrayed a news reporter covering the similar fate of a Little Tikes toy car.
The Jeep was towed off the beach one day after Dorian hit the area. Its owner told WMBF-TV that he knew nothing of his vehicle's fame until police showed up at his door to inform him that it had been abandoned. He said he had lent the vehicle to his cousin, who had wanted to get a video of the sunrise at the beach before the storm arrived.
Half a day later and 170 kilometres down the coast, another South Carolinian was making an even more startling discovery.
Aaron Lattin was trawling Folly Beach, S.C., with a metal detector and his girlfriend. They wanted to see if Dorian had deposited any long-lost treasure on the beach. They soon stumbled upon something interesting hidden by brush.
"At first, we just thought it was a rock," Lattin told WCSC-TV.
"The more we got to looking, we realized it was something more than a rock."
What Lattin and his girlfriend had found was a pair of cannonballs believed to date back to the Civil War.
An explosives disposal unit was called in to examine the cannonballs and ensure there was no danger before they were removed from the area.
It was not the first time cannonballs had been found at Folly Beach in the aftermath of a hurricane. Sixteen of them washed up in the same location after Hurricane Matthew hit the area in 2016.
