Lake Wylie area braces for heavy rain from hurricane. Here’s the York County forecast.
Hurricane Sally made landfall two states away, but folks in York County and neighboring areas already are bracing for an impact.
Residents along Lake Wylie likely noticed one impact already. Duke Energy, the company that manages the lake, dropped Wylie about a foot as of Wednesday morning. Duke ran water throughout the 11 reservoirs on the Catawba River basin to make room for heavy rain expected as storms move this direction.
Duke issued a lake warning Tuesday for Wylie, which in part read:
“Duke Energy is lowering Lake Wylie to prepare for significant rainfall from Hurricane Sally. The Duke Energy meteorological weather forecast for the Catawba River basin calls for significant rainfall Wednesday through Friday. Duke Energy is aggressively moving water through the river system to prepare for this event. Individuals who live along lakes and rivers and in flood-prone areas should pay close attention to local media and weather forecasts for changes in weather conditions and rising water levels.”
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control advised all reservoir owners statewide, large and small, to prepare for heavy rain.
“Owners of ponds and reservoirs with functional gates or flashboards should consider operating them to provide additional storage for the anticipated rainfall,” DHEC dam safety and stormwater permitting director Jill Stewart said Tuesday.
Stewart also advised pond or reservoir owners to communicate plans to downstream neighbors.
“If there is a dam downstream of your dam and you are lowering your water level, please call the owner of that dam to advise him or her about what you are doing,” Stewart said. “Before and after the storm has passed, any accumulated trash and debris should be cleared from spillways.”
In Tega Cay, officials decided Wednesday to close the Fort Mill River Access until further notice due to running water ahead of Sally.
For residents along Lake Wylie, the impact of running water ahead of large rainfalls can mean boats and docks quickly find themselves in much shallower water. Then almost as quickly they will rise to near flood levels. Work to secure boats, docks and other lakefront property in advance of storms can help homeowners avoid what sometimes becomes a river of debris.
For boaters, conditions can go from shallow in areas where it isn’t shallow, to high choppier water with unexpected debris pulled loose by the storm.
For most area residents, who don’t live on the lake or plan to boat on it in the next several days, the main impact will be rain.
The National Weather Service issued a flood watch, then replaced it with a flash flood watch from 8 a.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. Friday morning for a host of counties across Georgia and the Carolinas. Flash flood watch areas include York, Lancaster and Chester counties.
The forecast has remnants of Sally on the move from the Gulf Coast through central Georgia Thursday evening to near the Carolinas coast by Friday evening. Heavy showers and thunderstorms will bring rain of four to six inches in much of that area, according to the forecast.
As much as nine inches of rain could fall in some areas, flooding streams, creeks and urban areas.
The National Weather service shows rain after 1 a.m. Thursday for the Rock Hill area, which will continue through Friday night. It could come at four to six inches on Thursday.
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This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 9:55 AM.
