CHARLESTON, S.C. (CN) — Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Debby lashed the southeastern coast Tuesday, threatening catastrophic flooding in the Holy City and nearby communities.
Debby swirled off the coast near Savannah, Georgia, after making landfall in Florida Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The tropical storm was expected to strengthen and slow down as it passed over warm ocean waters, battering the Lowcountry for days before barreling back toward land.
Rain began late Monday morning in Charleston and continued through the night. Forecasters with the National Weather Service estimate the Lowcountry had received 9 to 13 inches of rain by Tuesday afternoon. Another 10 to 15 inches of rain was expected before the storm passed.
Not since October 2015, when tropical storms converged on the Holy City in a “thousand-year storm,” has the Charleston area seen more than 20 inches of rain.
“With these expected rainfall totals, impacts will be widespread and severe, likely including numerous flooded homes and structures, damage to roadways including washouts, and unprecedented flooding along and near smaller creeks and streams,” the National Weather Service said.
President Joe Biden and Governor Henry McMaster declared states of emergency as Debby advanced down the coastline.
"This is a storm we have not seen before," McMaster said at a press conference Tuesday in Columbia.
No fatalities or injuries had yet been reported, McMaster said, but more than 85 residents, mostly from Charleston County, were staying in temporary shelters as flooding threatened neighborhoods. One shelter in North Charleston had already reached capacity by Tuesday afternoon as county officials announced plans to open a third shelter.
Charleston Mayor William Cogswell issued a citywide curfew Monday night and extended it Tuesday morning, warning that drivers who remained on the roads would be cited. Calls for stalled vehicles continued to keep first responders busy, however, as emergency dispatchers fielded 14 rescue calls from stranded motorists by 12:40 p.m., according to a Charleston County spokeswoman.
Flooding forced some residents from their homes in the Union Heights neighborhood north of Charleston’s peninsula. Frogs croaked from flooded backyards as garbage cans floated listlessly at intersections.
Eva Grant, 76, was hunkered down in her home on Forest Avenue. A sign outside the residence celebrated God’s grace as water pooled in her yard. The 10-year resident of Union Heights said she stocked up on supplies to ride out the storm.
“It’s the worst flooding I’ve seen here,” Grant said.
Other communities contended with late-night tornadoes that downed trees and power lines. One person was injured in Moncks Corner after a possible tornado damaged multiple stores near the downtown. Tornadoes were also reported on Isle of Palms and Edisto Island, leaving some residents without power.
Meanwhile officials in Colleton County, about an hour west of Charleston, were warning residents near McGrady Dam in Walterboro to evacuate as flood water threatened to destroy the barrier.
Myra Reese, director of the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services, said at Tuesday's press conference the dam actually had not failed but was releasing water through an emergency spillway as designed. She was uncertain if homes were damaged by the emergency release, however.
Reese said floodwater had breached a small, unregulated dam in the county, but it did not impact homes or roads.
McMaster warned Debby was forecast to cross the state in coming days. It invoked memories of 2018's Hurricane Florence, a lumbering category 1 storm that dropped heavy rain across the Carolinas and caused catastrophic inland flooding.
“We are confident there will be flooding. We are confident there will be a lot of rain," McMaster said. "We just don’t know how much yet.”
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