Hurricane Irma Washes Away Iconic Boat - 28 Years After Hurricane Hugo Washed It Ashore

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 9/12/2017, 9:55 a.m.
A monster hurricane brought Folly Beach its most famous boat. Now another monster storm has washed it away. The Folly …

By Doug Criss, CNN

(CNN) -- A monster hurricane brought Folly Beach its most famous boat. Now another monster storm has washed it away.

The Folly Boat was a message board of sorts for the beach town of Folly Beach, South Carolina. Since it washed ashore in 1989 during Hurricane Hugo, it has rested near a state highway and residents have painted and repainted messages on it through the years. Marriage proposals. Graduation announcements. Birthday wishes.

Over the weekend, before Irma hit, someone painted words of encouragement on the boat for their neighbors to the south: "Godspeed Florida," it read. "This too shall pass."

Then came Monday. Hurricane Irma brought fierce winds and torrential rains to South Carolina and Georgia after devastating parts of Florida over the weekend.

It flooded Folly Beach and sections of nearby Charleston.

The boat floated about a half-mile away and crashed into a dock owned by Chris John.

"All the sudden, it was just floating by," John told CNN. "My buddy was looking out the window and was like 'Whoa what is that?'"

John said the boat is now sitting in his front yard. It's not clear what condition the boat is in or if it will be returned to its original location in Folly Beach.

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