Myrtle Beach police consider reinstating Ocean Boulevard ‘flushing’ for busy summer season

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - As summer crowds start to make their way into the Grand Strand, the Myrtle Beach Police Department is considering season-long safety tactics to prevent crime on Ocean Boulevard.

After two recent incidents involving guns on Ocean Boulevard, the Myrtle Beach Police Department has decided to start its flush plan this weekend.

Documents WMBF News obtained through a FOIA request show police flushed Ocean Boulevard around 10 p.m. on Saturday because of the congestion from cars and people.

It went until 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

“What it does is when we get an area with a high amount of congestion, it allows us to more traffic off the Boulevard and into other areas of the city,” Myrtle Beach police Capt. Bryan Murphy said. “So, we can release that traffic and be able to move around a little bit better. Cars can move better, pedestrians can move better. It makes it safer.”

The police department has implemented this ‘flushing’ plan for several years now but only when certain areas start to overcrowd.

Instead of just doing it every once and a while when things get rowdy, the police department and other city officials are considering doing it all summer long.

“This one we just want to test out this weekend if it’ll still work with the differences in the roads and crowds and all that sort of thing. Then we’ll evaluate it and see if we want to go forward with it,” Murphy explained.

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