York County area will end year wet, with possible flooding, forecasters say

It will be too warm for snow or winter weather in York County Thursday and Friday, but a storm could dump as much as three inches of rain and cause flooding, officials said.

Western York County and areas near Lake Wylie could see the heaviest rainfall, two to three inches, said forecasters with the National Weather Service. Southern and eastern York County, along with Chester and northern Lancaster counties, could see an inch and half of rain, or more.

A Flood Watch was issued Wednesday for York County, which runs from Thursday night through Saturday morning. The rain could cause localized flooding in streams, creeks and rivers, weather service officials said.

Soils remain largely saturated from recent snowmelt and rainfall, and many area streams and reservoirs are already running high, according to the weather service.

Potential flooding is a concern for York County, said Chuck Haynes, emergency management director.

“If we see heavy rain our creeks and rivers are full so drainage will be slow,” Haynes said.

Temperatures will remain high enough during the storm that all the precipitation will fall as rain, weather officials said. Thursday will be a colder rain with temperatures in the upper 40s. Friday will warm up to the mid 60s.

Waterways are already at high levels from recent rains. Heavy water flow from Lake Wylie into the Catawba River pushed Rock Hill officials on Dec. 21 to close canoe and kayak access to the river at Riverwalk and River Park.

Those closures because of potentially dangerous water levels remain in effect, said Katie Quinn, spokesperson for the city of Rock Hill.

Lake Wylie is at almost 97 percent capacity, said Duke Energy officials. Duke controls water flow in the lake and river.

Duke expects significant rainfall and is moving water aggressively downstream through Lake Wylie and the Catawba River, said Kim Crawford, a spokesperson for Duke. Spillway gates are still open at Wylie, Fishing Creek and Cedar Creek hydro stations, Crawford said.

More rain - could fall from the late weekend through New Year’s Day, Crawford said.

This story was originally published December 26, 2018 at 11:12 AM.