The headaches of Irene's effects aren't over on the Grand Strand Sunday. As Washington, D.C. area airports re-opened around noon, seven east coast airports remain closed.

So even though it is sunny and clear in the Myrtle Beach skies, dozens of flights are still canceled.

Airlines have already canceled more than 9,000 flights since Irene came ashore at North Carolina on Saturday, according to FlightAware. United, Continental, Delta, American, Southwest and JetBlue canceled all Sunday flights in the New York and Philadelphia areas long before Irene hit. They also moved planes out of the storm's path to avoid damage, further slowing the recovery of normal service.

Airlines had indicated about 500 cancellations for Monday, said the service's CEO, Daniel Baker. That would be a very small percentage of the nation's flights.

Kathryn Brenner was among those waiting on Sunday. She had rushed in to Myrtle Beach for a wedding she says she almost missed because of Irene. "We got the last rental car after we flew to Charlotte and drove down, we really lucked out."

She wasn't so lucky Sunday.

"We got a call last night with a message saying the flight to Philadelphia is canceled. So we were like, oh great," Brenner said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.