Should you be concerned about flooding in Horry County? Why the storm’s speed might help
Some flooding might be expected in Horry County, but the threat isn’t serious due to the speed of the storm, officials say.
A storm is moving toward the Myrtle Beach area, and flooding could accompany it with heavy weather starting around Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service’s Wilmington, N.C. office.
While flooding might impact areas with poor drainage and beach erosion is a concern, the flooding threat is “on the low end” and isn’t a serious threat because of the storm, said Steven Pfaff, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Wilmington site. Pfaff also said storms that quickly pass through areas typically cause less flooding.
“It’ll be the speed of this moving through is what really helps in this (flooding) situation,” Pfaff said. “It’ll hurt in regard to the winds, but least with the rainfall, and any compounded flooding types type situations.”
Fellow NWS Wilmington, N.C. Meteorologist Stephen Keebler added little has changed.
“If you have a slower storm, but the storm, the main area of rain or the line of convection, rainfall, showers, thunderstorms, are going to be moving slower. So you get the higher totals,” Keebler said. “This one moving through faster; it has a really good area of showers and thunderstorms with it, but it’s just not over the same area very long.”
Horry County Deputy Director of Public Information Thomas Bell also said that storms that slowly pass through the area tend to lead to more rainfall and, thus, more flooding.
“Some of the previous tropical systems we had, like Hurricane Florence that spun over our area for quite a number of hours, and the longer it’s able to sit and dump its rain, the higher those water levels get,” Bell said. ”The ideal thing is a storm comes in, it moves pretty quick, not to say that we still can’t see some heavy rainfall in a quick moving storm, but it doesn’t allow it to get into those crazy, high totals.”
One to two inches of rainfall will fall in the Horry County area starting Tuesday afternoon, The NWS’ Tuesday Storm Briefing from 8 a.m. Jan. 9, 2024.
Despite severe flooding during a December 2023 storm, Bell added this weather system is different, as opposed to a slow storm that tends to dump more rain on an area.
“(This storm), we’re really not so concerned about flooding,” Bell said Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. “Our flash flooding potential seems to have gone down ... Coastal flooding with this one, it looks like there will be some minor coastal flooding, but nothing that is too unusual outside of a king tide that impacts the usual low-lying areas along the coast.”
Usually lasting 3-5 days, King Tides can cause flooding to varying degrees of severity, which, combined with wind and heavy rain, can lead to eight-foot-high tides.
Horry County rivers not expected to reach flood stage
Two rivers within Horry County prone to flooding, the Waccamaw River near Conway and the Little Pee Dee River near Galivants Ferry, are listed at Action level and will stay there for much of the remainder of the week. The Waccamaw River is projected to peak at 10.7 feet early Wednesday, Jan. 10— the river’s flood stage is 11 feet.
The Little Pee Dee is expected to rise to 8.5 feet before Sunday, Jan. 14— its flood stage is nine feet. The National Weather Service tracks predicted river water levels and grades the danger of flooding from Action to Minor, Moderate and Major.
Pfaff said the Waccamaw River and Little Pee Dee should stay below the flood stage based on current rainfall projections.
The NWS’ most recent report lists the risk of river flooding as limited, rainfall flooding as limited and coastal flooding between limited and elevated. The NWS report grades threat levels in increasing order of severity from none, limited, elevated, significant and extreme.
Bell added that potential riverline flooding depends on how much rain falls in Horry County and north of the region.
Where is flooding most likely to occur in Myrtle Beach, SC?
While not a serious concern for this storm, residents may want to know if they live in an area susceptible to flooding. Areas like the Rosewood section in Socastee, Island Green, Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island and the Cherry Grove area of North Myrtle Beach have been susceptible to flooding in the past.
Pawleys Island, Litchfield by the Sea, Murrells Inlet and North Myrtle Beach have also flooded during previous hurricanes. Concerned residents can stay updated on the path of the storm and potential flood risks by checking the Horry County EM Resource Pag, and The NWS Wilmington office also provides updates via its Hazardous Weather Outlook.
This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 12:54 PM.
