Matthew turns Indian Land home into temporary sorority house

Shanna Dickerson saw her Panhandle home converted to a sorority house.

Her daughter, Brenna, is a sophomore at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort. Brenna traveled inland home and brought Zeta Tau Alpha sisters from Oregon and New Jersey.

Despite historic flooding in South Carolina last year, Hurricane Matthew presented a more pressing danger this time.

"They were there all year last year and never had to evacuate, so this is all new to them," Shanna said. "They were untouched by all that."

The Dickersons tried to make the trip fun. Shanna teaches at a high school in Charlotte, so the girls went to a homecoming game.

"We took them out to 521 Barbecue so they could experience some South Carolina barbecue," she said.

The students have fall break coming right behind the storm, so as of Friday plans were a little uncertain. Students were told not to leave their vehicles at the school. The sorority sisters were nervous for their dorm and school despite living on the second level of their building.

"It's all the stuff they had to leave behind," Shanna said.

Students had to be off campus by noon Wednesday, in part because the school is an emergency command response hub. Brenna said there wasn't a sense of panic among students. It did get dicey for a bit in student housing, where she works as a resident adviser.

"Our housing office was going crazy because we were trying to figure out where all these kids were going," Brenna said.

Brenna said it was "nice to get a little bit of a vacation under a bad circumstance." She and other students were told to check the school website periodically for details on when they can return. With some exams and plenty of classes planned leading into fall break on Wednesday, there could be some 'hurricane ate my homework'-type moments.

"Never had that," Brenna said.

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Matthew turns Indian Land home into temporary sorority house."