Patti and Mike Runge were only yesterday having the time of their lives on their first family beach vacation in 16 years of marriage.

But on Thursday they were loading up the car and fleeing as Hurricane Matthew brought their South Carolina beach idyll to an abrupt end.

"The hotel staff told us we had to go," Patti told AFP in the lobby of their hotel in Myrtle Beach, her 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter waiting in the car ready to go.

The Runges were among 100 remaining guests asked to leave their hotel as South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley ordered coastline communities in this area to evacuate from noon (1600 GMT).

With Hurricane Matthew bearing down on Florida and forecast to hit South Carolina Friday, the beach resort was turned into a ghost town as tourists loaded up cars, cut short vacations and fled north.

"We've been married 16 years and this is the first time we came as a family to the beach," said Patti's husband, Mike.

Most holidaymakers had already left.

"It was packed," said Mike. "A lot of people thought they had to evacuate yesterday and a lot of people did leave early."

"It's totally a ghost town now," said Patti. The couple were not unduly concerned, accustomed to monster blizzards each winter that can dump eight feet of snow in their backyard in Buffalo, upstate New York.

- Popular with tourists -

"If they would have let us, we would have stayed," Patti laughed. Instead they are stopping off with relatives to finish the last couple of days of vacation before heading on the 14-hour drive home.

Pristine beaches, warm ocean and golf courses were just some of the attractions that brought just under 18 million tourists to the Grand Strand last year in a season that usually lasts to early November.

Hotel occupancy last week was more than 80 percent, a record for the time of year, said Keith Pierce, public relations strategist from the chamber of commerce for the Myrtle Beach area.

"We've seen tremendous growth in September-October in the last few years, we are enjoying one of the best falls we've had ever," Pierce told AFP. "But for this weekend they had to call and cancel."

Streets were deserted, a handful of motels and other buildings were boarded up. The vast majority of coffee shops, restaurants and tourist attractions remained closed and cars were loading up.

Another family frantically bundled giant plastic bags full of belongings into two cars, too stressed to speak to reporters and eager to begin the long drive home to Pennsylvania.

On the windswept beach, retiree Marcia Hoag brought daughter Kelly and two grandchildren Zachary, nine, and Aria, three, for a last paddle in the water before heading indoors.

"We're nervous," said Hoag as she gathered the family's possessions up after a morning enjoying the sand and waves.

Also visiting from upstate New York, they're staying with Hoag's son and daughter-in-law. They've stocked up on supplies, water, gas and flashlights, and are planning to sit the storm out.

- Nervous -

"I mainly don't want to leave my son and daughter-in-law down here," she said. "He wants to be tough and ride it out."

They were one of only two families on the eerily deserted beach.

"It was packed with people here yesterday and then we came today and it was like 'Oh my God there is nobody here,'" says Kelly Allmendinger, 26, who works as a bartender.

Officials expect the storm to turn right in the Myrtle Beach area, so it remains unclear whether the resort will score a direct hit. On Thursday the skies were overcast.

"The waves are definitely a lot stronger than they were yesterday," said Allmendinger. "We love the beach," said her mother.

The only other family on the beach is wedding designer Sandra Church who brought her three children to see the waves.

They've never lived through a hurricane and normally the sea on this stretch is "very calm and quiet," she explains.

"I'm nervous a little bit," said Church. "It went from completely being packed over here to isolated pretty much," she added.

"I've a Mustang ready to go, just in case."