Rivers rise under flood watch; El Nino predicted to bring wetter fall, winter

Forecasts show the rain should be clearing out Tuesday, but not before it wreaks havoc on rivers already bloated from almost weekly blasts of rain in the past month. And more wet weather may be coming this fall and winter thanks to El Nino – the “little boy” that packs a big punch when it comes to extreme weather churned up by the warming of the Pacific Ocean.

Coastal areas along both Carolinas from Morehead City, N.C., to Charleston were getting drenched Monday as a stalled frontal system mingled with deep tropical moisture to produce heavy rainfall. One-and-a-half to two-and-a-half inches of rain were predicted to fall mainly along the coast with lesser rainfall inland, according to the National Weather Service.

A flood watch for northeast South Carolina and southwest North Carolina remained in effect until 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The Waccamaw River in Conway had already swelled past its 11-foot flood stage at 10:15 a.m. Monday, according to Sandy LaCorte, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, N.C.

LaCorte said forecasters expect the river to be near 12 feet by the end of the week.

“Flooding conditions could worsen for areas like Lee’s Landing, Riverfront South, Pitch Landing and the Savannah Bluff communities” at the 12-foot stage, she said.

When the river reached 12 feet in the past, floodwaters also began to affect homes north of Conway on Riverside Drive, she said.

Meteorologists are keeping a close watch on local rivers for any flooding. The Little Pee Dee River at Galivants Ferry in Horry County was also on their watchlist and by noon, it too had surpassed its 9-foot flood stage, measuring 9.18 feet.

Floodwaters were expected to affect homes, yards and boat landings in the Fork Retch community near Nichols.

LaCorte added that “area swamps will be heavily flooded” from the rainfall as well.

Aside from the rivers, meteorologists were looking at the potential of “some ponding or minor flooding” with the heavy rainfall soaking lands already saturated.

Meteorologists aren’t expecting much from Tropical Storm Kate, which formed near the Bahamas on Sunday, but is expected to curve northeast – away from the coast.

“Once that passes through and continues to move to the northeast we’ll have a nice rest of the week,” she said Monday. “Tomorrow afternoon we might see some sunshine actually… Wednesday through the end of the week we should see sunshine and highs will be around 70 degrees.”

Temperatures over the weekend are expected to cool as a dry cold front moves through the area, she said.

This year’s El Nino is spurring meteorologists to predict a wetter fall and winter for the Carolinas. As for the coast, it should be wet, cloudy, warmer and “harder for us to get some snow,” LaCorte said.

Weaver: 843-444-1722; @TSNEmily

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Rivers rise under flood watch; El Nino predicted to bring wetter fall, winter."