Hurricane Michael: York, Chester, Lancaster counties could see 4 inches of rain

Hurricane Michael is expected to drop 4 or more inches of rain in York, Chester and Lancaster counties Thursday through early Friday, officials said.

The area could see tropical storm force gusts of wind pushing 40 mph that coupled with the rain bring the potential for flooding, trees down and power outages, emergency management officials said.

National Weather Service forecasts for the upstate of South Carolina show rain totals through early Friday of more than 4 inches for parts of all three counties.

Some ground is still saturated from the Florence storm last month, said York County Emergency Management Director Chuck Haynes. Emergency officials are planning for possible flooding in areas that have previous problems, and there is a potential for power outages and trees toppled from the wind and rain falling on saturated soil, Haynes said.

Heaviest rain and winds are expected Thursday, Haynes said.

“We may have impacts early Thursday morning,” Haynes said. “Tropical storm force gusts could be seen with some heavy rain. Expect possible trees down, power outages and isolated flooding.”

Rock Hill’s forecasted rain total through Friday is 4.3 inches, weather service officials said Tuesday morning. Western York County is expected to receive less rain but the forecast is still for about 4 inches, officials said.

Chester’s forecast is higher at around 4.6 inches of rain expected. Lancaster County is expected to received up to 4 inches, weather service officials said.

Emergency officials say the rain could fall faster than it did from Florence.

“We could see more rain than the last one,” said Chester County Emergency Management Director Eddie Murphy. “But we aren’t expecting widespread power outages. Mainly rain.”

Florence dropped about 9 inches of rain in eastern Lancaster County and about 6 inches in the rest of the county, but it was a slow rain, said Darren Player, Lancaster’s emergency management director.

Michael’s expected rain of up to 4 inches will likely fall faster, Player said.

“We aren’t expecting the same amount as Florence, but it will come down faster if the track stays the way it is forecast,” Player said. “But we are not anticipating major flooding issues.”

Check back for updates.

This story was originally published October 9, 2018 at 9:01 AM with the headline "Hurricane Michael: York, Chester, Lancaster counties could see 4 inches of rain."