LITTLE RIVER, S.C. (WBTW) — Many residents on the Grand Strand are cleaning up after Tropical Storm Debby rolled through this week, but few, if any, lost more than a Little River couple whose houseboat with all of their personal belongings sank during the storm.
Ryan Fischer and Alicia Bocian said when they got the news early Thursday morning, they couldn’t believe it was true.
“We thought we were doing good, trying to make positive moves and live minimally,” Fischer said. “Now, we don’t know how to live at all.”
Fischer and Bocian lived on their houseboat in Little River for three years, withstanding multiple tropical storms and a hurricane. They said they enjoy their life because it’s a different from the norm.
The couple checked on their boat at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, making sure it was tied down and that the pumps were working. Six hours later, at about 5 a.m., they got a call no one wants to get.
“I just watched my entire life just go down,” Bocian said. “Like my home, everything that I had, everything that I owned, it’s now gone.”
The couple’s entire life was on the boat: passports, birth certificates, electronics, their pet’s ashes and Bocian’s wedding dress.
“We’re getting married in two years, and she hasn’t even had it fitted yet,” Fischer said. “We’ve tried it on once. She picked out her shoes.”
As SeaTow came out Thursday afternoon to begin the process of lifting the boat out of the water, the couple says it’s a scary feeling not knowing where they’ll live because they have no idea how they will be able to afford repairs or a new boat.
They said the only silver lining is they weren’t asleep on the boat when it went down.
“Although we had lost everything, we still have ourselves and we still have a lot to give,” Bocian said. “We can rebuild, and we can start again.”
For the next month, the couple said they will live with Fischer’s son. After that, they said they would appreciate any help from the community. You can find a GoFundMe page here.
