Before and after require different behavior.
Prepare
- Know the current evacuation zone and official instructions
- Take clear before photos
- Save permits, surveys, insurance information, and contractor contacts
- Secure loose waterfront items while conditions are safe
- Follow manufacturer or installer guidance for boat-lift preparation
Inspect from land
- Stay off moved, sagged, cracked, flooded, or electrically damaged structures
- Photograph damage before cleanup when safe
- Separate dock, lift, shoreline, electrical, debris, and house damage
- Check what was previously permitted before rebuilding
- Confirm which emergency or normal permit lane applies
Do not risk an injury to save a dock. Stop preparation once conditions become unsafe.
Know your evacuation zone before the storm is close.
Charleston County evacuation zones were updated for 2026. Do not guess from an island or neighborhood name; use the current official tool and instructions for the actual storm.
Build a baseline while conditions are safe.
Wide photos show context; close-ups show details. Keep both, preferably with a cloud copy.
Prepare early, then stop.
Remove or secure loose items that could become debris. For a boat lift, follow the manufacturer or installer’s storm instructions rather than guessing at lift position or electrical shutdown.
High wind, surge, lightning, fast current, and wet electrical equipment can turn normal preparation into an emergency.
Any one of these is a reason to stay off.
Movement
New leaning, sagging, twisting, broken framing, displaced pilings, or a moved float or ramp.
Electrical
Wet, submerged, damaged, or uncertain electrical equipment around a lift, dock, or flooded waterfront area.
Shoreline
New washout, missing soil, holes behind a bulkhead, displaced riprap, settlement, or a new water path across the property.
Unknown condition
If you cannot tell whether a structure is safe, treat it as unsafe until a qualified professional checks it.
Move from safety to repair in order.
Is it safe?
Stay off damaged or flooded waterfront structures until hazards are understood.
→Document it
Take photos and video before cleanup or repair when conditions are safe.
→Separate damage
Distinguish dock, lift, shoreline, electrical, debris, and house issues.
→Find the old permit
Compare the damaged structure with the previously approved size, configuration, and location.
→Check the permit lane
Look for storm-specific authorizations plus normal state, federal, and local requirements.
→Bring in the right pro
Match the actual damage to the professional needed for that part of the property.
Document before cleanup or repair.
The National Flood Insurance Program recommends documenting flood damage before cleanup and saving repair receipts. Photograph the whole waterfront area, each damaged part, water or debris lines, erosion, and equipment model or serial numbers when safe.
NFIP damage documentation ↗Storm damage does not mean “rebuild without a permit.”
SCDES may issue Emergency General Permits after a qualifying emergency for repair or reconstruction of previously permitted or grandfathered docks, marinas, non-oceanfront erosion-control structures, and certain other coastal structures. Those authorizations are event-specific.
When an Emergency General Permit is available, SCDES says the structure may only be restored to its previously permitted or grandfathered size, configuration, and location. Other approvals may still apply.
SCDES Emergency General Permits ↗If there is no storm-specific emergency permit.
The normal lanes still matter: maintenance-and-repair review, qualifying same-size reconstruction general permits, or another permit path when size, location, or configuration changes.
See the Charleston waterfront permit map →Your local permit layer
Which local government handles your property?
Choose the jurisdiction for the parcel. Do not choose only by island name. Parts of James Island and Johns Island can fall under different local governments.
Use the parcel’s jurisdiction, not the mailing address.
A Charleston mailing address does not always mean the property is inside the City of Charleston. The same is true on James Island and Johns Island.
Until the jurisdiction is confirmed, treat the state and federal permit steps below as the baseline and ask the local building or zoning office whether it has an additional review.
Official resources