• 3 months ago
Debby may have had serious coastal impacts, but some of the biggest dangers it poses now are inland, as AccuWeather's Bill Wadell explains.
Transcript
00:00So creeks in South Carolina's low country are on the rise with all of the rain from
00:04Debbie and one creek outside Charleston just entered major flood stage.
00:09AccuWeather's Bill Waddell is live in Berkeley County, South Carolina.
00:12Bill, families are being warned they have to, they may have to evacuate.
00:16Yeah, absolutely, Jeff, and this is exactly the situation that meteorologists at AccuWeather
00:23have been warning people about in this region for days, long before Debbie approached this
00:27area.
00:28They were warning this wouldn't just have a big impact at the coast, but well inland
00:32as well, and unfortunately that's happening right here in this community.
00:35I just got here moments ago, just spoke with a neighbor.
00:38This is French Quarter Creek behind me.
00:41The community is known as Hugey.
00:43This is in Berkeley County, about 45 to 50 minutes northeast of Charleston, and this
00:49creek right here quickly overflowing its banks.
00:52We have so much rain that's been coming in from Debbie with nowhere to go.
00:56These creeks and streams are just overloaded, having trouble flowing down to the coast,
01:01down to the bays and the harbors, and unfortunately this is what's happening.
01:04So we have a community here, a number of houses, looks like at least one business right along
01:09this waterway, and we're talking water that is at least a foot to two feet deep.
01:14So a warning was sent out here to people in this area that this is a flash flood warning,
01:19and as you can see for some folks, we just saw a car try to go down here, likely checking
01:24on friends or family, but again, a number of houses here appear to be going underwater
01:28as creeks continue to rise quickly from all of the rain that we've been seeing with Debbie
01:32over the past 24 to 48 hours.
01:35We want to show you some video back in the Charleston area, the low country of South
01:39Carolina dealing with a lot of water, and we know that Charleston knows all too well
01:43about flooding.
01:45The warnings were out and an emergency curfew was in place.
01:49It's still in effect right now, but some drivers still hit the road.
01:53They did not pay attention to that emergency curfew that's in order in the peninsula of
01:58Charleston, and unfortunately some drivers did get stuck in high water.
02:01Now the good news is that emergency officials are telling us for the most part the emergency
02:06curfew in Charleston has been working, that they have not had any injuries reported as
02:13of yet.
02:14We're expected to get a briefing from Charleston city officials within the next hour or so.
02:18A lot of questions about if and when that curfew is going to be lifted, but again, when
02:22you look at the radar, we know the Charleston area is getting a break from the impacts from
02:26Debbie right now, but so much rain that's been falling in this area, so much rain, well
02:33100 miles inland.
02:34Again, this is the problem, Jeff, that we've been warning about.
02:36So many people think tropical storms, all eyes are on the beach, everybody's looking
02:40for impacts with storm surge, rough surf, and yes, that did happen with Debbie, but
02:45the impacts that we're seeing right now here in South Carolina, we're talking about inland.
02:49Berkeley County, this is a flash flood warning here for French Quarter Creek, and waters
02:54rising quickly.
02:55We know that people are coming here to check on their loved ones and family members, and
02:59unfortunately, this is a situation we could be seeing all across the southeast over the
03:03next day or two.
03:04More creeks and rivers rising quickly.
03:07This is a life-threatening situation with the water rising so fast into major flood
03:11states, and again, this situation is only going to get worse after dark.
03:14That's very true, and to your point about inland flooding, Bill, I wanted to point out
03:18that Columbia, South Carolina, is also now under a flash flood warning, and this is right
03:23smack dab in the middle of the state, the state capital.
03:25So we're looking at Richland County and Lexington County of South Carolina now under a flash
03:30flood warning until 645 because of heavy rain moving in.
03:33This is a moisture-laden environment here.
03:35We're dealing with a lot of heavy rain.
03:37So we have lots going on here in the short term.
03:40Bill covered the squalls of rain there, and the fact that not everybody's seeing it at
03:44all times, but the flooding and the floodwaters are rising into Georgetown here.
03:49We are facing an ongoing, into Georgetown County and the city of Georgetown, a big influx
03:54in heavier rain again.
03:55The rain is lifting deeper north into more of North Carolina and across much of the Tar
04:01Heel state.

Recommended