Perhaps one of the most telling signs of an enormous storm surge from hurricane Matthew is the evidence in the photograph on the left taken several days after an enormous surge topped the causeway to Bears Island and left marsh grass stuck in the upper branches of a pine tree.. The marsh grass is nearly five feet above the causeway and the causeway itself is about 4 feet above the mean sea level of the intra-coastal waterway (see water in the background).
The U.S. Geological Survey team was conducting extensive measurements of storm surge in South Carolina but this location was not surveyed since it was on private property outside of their purview. If you look closely at the foot of the pine tree, there is planking from a dock that was swept away during the storm and got lodged behind the causeway and its long row of trees.
