A house on Swift Street in Barefoot Resort in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., lies in ruin on Thursday after a coastal wildfire spread toward one of the busiest tourist stretches in South Carolina, burning dozens of homes and forcing hundreds to flee in the middle of the night. (Randall Hill/Sun News/Associated Press)Crews in South Carolina continued to battle a wildfire on Thursday as it crept near a popular destination for Canadian tourists and forced thousands of residents of a housing development to flee their homes in the middle of the night.

Police banged on doors to awaken residents early Thursday as strong winds fanned the fire toward a large complex of houses and condominiums known as the Barefoot Landing.

There were no reports of injuries, but state officials said as many as 70 homes have been destroyed. Dense smoke filled parts of the city, which was separated from the threatened development by the Intracoastal Waterway.

North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley said by midmorning the fire at the development had mostly died out, but police still stopped residents from returning to the homes there.

"This is a natural disaster," Hatley said.

"It was like something out of a movie," said Danielle Prater, 25, of Charlotte, N.C., who woke her aunt and uncle at 1:30 a.m. after seeing flames racing through a neighbour's backyard.

"I ran and got them and we got out of there as fast as we could."

Officials have not yet identified what sparked the blaze, which began on Wednesday. Tourist officials have said popular beach areas and golf courses in Myrtle Beach remain open, while many tourist just a few kilometres away from the fire said they didn't smell the smoke.

Tens of thousands of Canadians flock to Myrtle Beach every year, especially during the March school break.

With files from The Associated Press