Watch flooding continue in the Carolinas as Debby crawls up the coast
Tropical Storm Debby made landfall in South Carolina for the second time and continued to bring rain to the southeast coast.
After making landfall for a second time near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, early this morning, Tropical Storm Debby is moving across the Carolinas, posing significant flood risks throughout the Southeast.
At 2 p.m., Debby moved over Chesterfield County, near the North Carolina border. After making landfall on the coast, the storm moved through Darlington County around mid-morning. Debby is expected to continue moving north at about 10 mph and move into central North Carolina this evening.
Although tropical cyclones weaken after landfall because they can no longer draw energy from the warm ocean, Debby is still bringing torrential rain to the Palmetto State. In South Carolina, experts expect some areas to receive 20 to 25 inches of rain.
Some coastal South Carolina counties have already received more than a foot of rain, according to the National Weather Service’s four-day precipitation reports released Thursday morning.
Here are some of the highest rainfall amounts:
- Green Pond in Colleton County: 17.35 inches
- Summerville in Dorchester County: 14.86 inches
- Mount Pleasant in Charleston County: 14.71 inches
- Huger in Berkeley County: 14.01 inches
- Seabrook in Beaufort County 13.43 inches
Experts say Debby could bring even more rainfall, with parts of South Carolina likely to receive an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain. As of 2 p.m., eastern York County was seeing between 0.5 and 1 inch of rain per hour, and between 4 and 7 inches had fallen.
A flash flood warning is in effect for eastern York County until 5 p.m. Thursday. The NWS has also issued flash flood warnings for northwestern Cherokee County and northeastern Spartanburg County until 6 p.m.
In addition, the NWS expects flooding in rivers across the state, including the Little Pee Dee River, Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River and Lumber River.
Although Debby’s cause is marine, residents across the state are experiencing power outages. About 5,015 homes are affected by power outages as of Thursday afternoon, according to outage maps from Duke Energy, Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper.
Spartanburg County recorded the highest number of power outages at around 1:30 p.m., with 2,188 households without power. York County followed with 1,803 residents affected by a power outage.
If you need to report a power outage in your area, Instructions are available on the Duke, Dominion and Santee Cooper websites. If your power is out, you can click on the reported outage in your area to see the estimated time it will take to repair and restore..
Are you facing storm damage? Here are some things to consider:
For updates on Debby’s continued journey north, follow the Greenville News live blog.
Sarah Swetlik reports on climate change and environmental issues in upstate South Carolina for The Greenville News. You can reach them at [email protected] or on X under @sarahgswetlik.
