Severe weather: Why Friday’s storm is bringing new warnings in Upstate SC
Another round of severe weather is forecast to hit Rock Hill and surrounding areas of Upstate South Carolina on Friday after the region experienced flooding, closed roads and power outages during Tuesday’s storm.
The new round of rain and wind is not expected to be as harsh as Tuesday that caused roads from Lake Wylie to Indian Land in Lancaster County to be flooded. But the threat of flooding remains because the ground is saturated and waterways are already high, emergency officials said.
The National Weather Service forecast for the area for Friday into early Saturday shows about an inch of rain possible, with winds in the teens that could gust over 20 MPH. Rainfall totals are expected to be lower than Tuesday, but localized flooding remains possible, the weather service said.
A hazardous weather alert from the weather service said there is potential for a few severe thunderstorms, with damaging wind gusts being the main threat.
Tuesday: Water evacuation Indian Land, trees down York County
While Tuesday brought high winds and dangerous periods on area roads, there were no storm-related injuries reported in the Rock Hill area.
In the Indian Land area Tuesday evening, emergency crews used a boat to help evacuate a family on Man O War Drive, said Darren Player, the county’s emergency management director.
In York County Tuesday, a home in Lake Wylie and one in Rock Hill were damaged when trees fell onto the structures, and more than 60 trees fell on roads during the storm, York County officials said.
“We are still dealing with the water and wind that came Tuesday and now it looks like another round,” said Chuck Haynes, York County Emergency Management Director. “We do want people to be aware of the weather - again.”
There was a tornado watch for the area Tuesday, but none were reported in the Rock Hill area.
Thousands were out of power for periods of time Tuesday across the region. By Wednesday, most customers in York, Chester, and Lancaster counties who had interrupted utility service were restored, according to utility outage maps and PowerOutage.us, a website that aggregates live data from utilities across the country.
Friday’s severe weather has the potential for more trees down and outages, said Ed Darby, Chester County emergency management director.
“We had trees that fell into Wednesday morning from wind even after the storm passed,” Darby said. “And Friday’s timetable as it looks now shows the severe weather again in the afternoon, when people are on the roads.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2024 at 2:36 PM.
