Hurricane Dorian's waves swamp SUV in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Onlookers gather after driver abandons Jeep on beach during Hurricane Dorian.
The owner of the Jeep abandoned on Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Thursday -- as Hurricane Dorian was barreling toward the area -- has been in contact with authorities in hopes of recovering his vehicle when the storm calms down.
The man, who requested anonymity, reached out to WMBF to explain just how his red Jeep ended up on the beach.
“My cousin has been around, he rides a motorcycle -- so I thought I’d let him borrow my Jeep because the weather has been so bad," he said. "This morning he thought it would be cool to go on the beach and take a quick video of the sunrise before the storm came.
JEEP ABANDONED ON MYRTLE BEACH AS HURRICANE DORIAN RAGES; ONLOOKERS TAKE SELFIES
A Jeep SUV can be seen on Myrtle Beach on Thursday as Hurricane Dorian impacted the area. (WPDE)
“So he got on the beach and started driving it. I guess there’s that runoff there and he didn’t realize it was in front of him, he was looking out the window when he went off and got stuck. ... You can see he actually banged up the bumper a bit.”
The cousin apparently made attempts to contact help with towing the vehicle off the beach but the weather conditions thwarted his best efforts.
Charleston, S.C., about 90 miles south of Myrtle Beach, was hit with heavy wind and rain, leaving thousands of residents without power and creating severe flooding in the region.
HURRICANE DORIAN'S PATH: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Rain bands from Dorian also produced tornadoes across northeastern South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina.
Dorian made landfall at Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's Outer Banks Friday morning as a Category 1 storm.
The Myrtle Beach Police Department said in a Facebook post on Friday morning that the Jeep had been removed from the beach and that the force was working with other law enforcement agencies as well as the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate any impacts on the shoreline.
The owner said he had no idea his vehicle had become a viral sensation on social media, with onlookers taking selfies near the site until authorities showed up at his house and alerted him that his vehicle had been found.
Until then, his cousin was apparently avoiding him: “He avoided me for a good hour or two because he didn’t know what to say. And then police actually came to the house. And they said, ‘Hey we found your Jeep on the beach.’ Then I called him and spoke to him and he told me exactly what happened.”
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To the owner's profound disappointment, “it’s probably going to end up being totaled."
The Jeep appeared to have a broken window and a banged-up front bumper after it was pulled from the beach, according to a video posted by the police department.
Fox News' Travis Fedschun contributed to this report.
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