Flash flood warning issued for Horry, Georgetown counties; rain slowing river receding

A cold front is bringing another swath of rain to the Grand Strand this weekend, and forecasters said Saturday while the storm wouldn’t be like last weekend’s historic downpour, rainfall amounts will be slightly greater than initially anticipated on Friday.

A flash flood watch was issued by the National Weather Service in Wilmington, N.C. about 3:45 a.m. Saturday and is in effect for northeastern South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina until Sunday, but that watch quickly turned into a warning for Horry County and the central Georgetown County area around 1 p.m. as heavy rain blanketed the area, officials said.

“We could pick up two to three inches [of rain] which is a bit more than we were expecting yesterday. There definitely could be some street flooding,” Dave Loewenthal, forecaster with the weather service said Saturday morning.

The rain swept across the Grand Strand in the early afternoon on Saturday, and about one inch was the average predicted and that amount had already fallen by 1 p.m., weather authorities said.

While the widespread flooding issues seen last weekend were not projected, forecasters said some areas could see some renewed flooding, especially in flood-prone places.

Loewenthal said the culprit behind this weekend’s showers is a lift from a cold front that’s moving in, but overall the extra wet weather can be attributed to this year’s El Nino pattern.

“El Ninos generally cause wet and cooler falls and winters,” Loewenthal said.

He said October is usually a dryer month for the Grand Strand with average rainfall for the month typically totaling to three inches, but the El Nino pattern is bringing in more moisture.

Weather service officials described an El Nino as a state in which water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean near the equator become abnormally warm, causing a ripple effect in the atmosphere with weather patterns across many areas of the globe.

An El Ninos is a natural cycle that repeats itself on average about once every two to seven years with the last one occurring during 2009 – 2010. That pattern was described by weather authorities as moderate and ended in a slightly cooler than average winter.

Loewenthal said there was a remote chance that rainfall amounts could total to four inches in some places this weekend, but said the Waccamaw River, which reached its third-highest crest at 16.1 Thursday, would likely hold if it got a couple of inches, but some places along the river could swell up again if around four inches of rain fell.

The Waccamaw is still in major flood stage, but even with this weekend’s rain, river levels aren’t expected to see a significant jump.

However, the river could stay at major flood level for the next eight to 10 days, with the river likely dropping at a rate of three to four inches a day, officials said.

Loewenthal said it was possible the river could still be at minor flood stage, which is at 11 feet, even three weeks from now but it’s expected to be down to about 14.5 feet by Wednesday.

The weekend showers will likely just slow down the receding process for the already sluggishly decreasing river, which was down to 15.9 feet on Saturday morning from its 16.1 crest level on Thursday.

“Everybody is very apprehensive about the word rain at this point, but we’re not supposed to see anything close to what we had last weekend,” Ashley Carroll, mitigations and operations manager with Horry County Emergency Management Division said Saturday morning.

Carroll said HCEMD officials have been in very close contact with weather officials and have been running several scenarios with the river and projected rainfall this weekend and said all signs point to a bit of a frustrating slowdown for river receding rather than a major rise in water levels.

Boat patrols by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources that started earlier this week continued Saturday, and Carroll said the county has requested additional boats to go on river watch.

“We’ve got all hands on deck trying to make sure that we keep residents along the river and the waterway safe,” Carroll said.

The workers on patrols are assisting river residents who may want to leave, and SCDNR workers counted about 90 people who wanted to stay put in their riverbank homes on Thursday afternoon.

There are also 14 checkpoints set up along the river manned by Horry County police and National Guardsmen who are there 24 hours a day. The workers on boat patrols and at checkpoints will be in place assisting anyone who needs help or has questions.

Carroll said there were no emergency evacuations or rescues along the river Friday night or Saturday morning.

She said many residents there have experienced flooding along the river before and know what to expect, but said the checkpoints and boat patrols are in place to ensure safety for residents and their properties.

Carroll said river residents should continue to be vigilant about water levels, make sure they have plenty of food and water, and should call 911 if they begin to feel unsafe.

Georgetown County saw the Black River crest Saturday after experiencing major flood issues all week.

Officials said there were no additional road closures overnight on Saturday morning and said workers were going out to check closed roads and hopefully reopen some of them soon if possible.

Evacuations were recommended for the Oatland and Dunbar communities in Georgetown Thursday afternoon as flooding intensified and roads in those areas were closing.

National Guardsmen and Georgetown authorities swung into action aiding residents in those areas with evacuations and taking them to safety.

“We still have a large emergency responder presence on the Black River keeping an eye on that situation and transporting residents who wish to be moved across floodwaters,” Jackie Broach, Georgetown County spokeswoman said Saturday afternoon.

Weather authorities said the Black River should fall faster than the Waccamaw, but the additional rainfall could also slow down river receding there too.

Help, including federal aid, is also available to flood victims in Horry, Georgetown, and other areas of the state affected by the flood.

Anyone who needs assistance evacuating or has any questions should call the Georgetown County Emergency Operations Disaster Call Center at 843-545-3273.

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Flash flood warning issued for Horry, Georgetown counties; rain slowing river receding."