Lowcountry beaches keep busy throughout holiday weekend

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Thousands of people are taking advantage of the long weekend by going to Charleston-area beaches.

At peak hours, traffic backed up for miles trying to get onto Folly beach as an estimated 14,000 cars made their way to the island.

“I think a lot more people are trying to get out now that they have more opportunity to. It’s a little bit busier now,” Jason Gould, visiting from North Carolina, said.

With the increase in visitors, Folly Beach’s Public Safety Department has all hands on deck, controlling stop lights and patrolling the six-mile beach.

“The whole staff works really from top to bottom,” Public Safety Director Andrew Gilreath said. “Obviously I’m out here today, I’ve been out here all weekend and we do that just to make sure that we have people on hand to handle any calls that come in.”

As of Sunday afternoon, Folly Beach Police had given 70 citations and warnings on the beach, arrested 8 people and handed out around 250 parking tickets this holiday weekend.

“We have a dedicated parking enforcement staff at spends a lot of time writing those parking tickets and looking out for things that are going to cause the roadways to be even smaller than they are and that’s the reason people need to be off the roadway,” Gilreath said.

Gilreath says they have also received medical calls this weekend and he wants to remind people that dehydration and burns can still be severe even on overcast days.

“Make sure you’re still using the sunscreen, drinking water, things like that will keep you a lot healthier, especially on days like this when it’s overcast because you’re still getting those UV rays,” Gilreath said.