Flooding forecasts more optimistic for S. Carolina
Flow of river water to the sea is slow, but lake of coal ash will be spared
BUCKSPORT, S.C. — The last community in the way of Hurricane Florence’s floodwaters as they slowly flow to the sea got some good news Wednesday. Predictions aren’t as dire as they once were.
The Waccamaw River apparently won’t top a lake of coal ash or the main highway to Myrtle Beach.
Officials originally expected flooding in the worst areas of Georgetown County to be from 5 to 10 feet. The latest forecast lowered that estimate to 2 to 4 feet.
“The water is spreading,” Georgetown County Administrator Sel Hemingway said Wednesday. “We are not seeing the vertical rise.”
Twelve days after the oncefierce hurricane arrived on the coast, and more than a week after it blew north and dissipated, rivers swollen by its relentless rains are still flooding homes and businesses in their paths as they make their way to the sea. And even the new flooding forecasts are still well above records set just two years ago by Hurricane Matthew.
The death toll from the storm is also increasing. North Carolina officials blamed Florence for the death of a 67-year-old man who fractured his neck cleaning up storm debris Sept. 18 in Craven County, The storm has killed at least 47 people — 36 in North Carolina; nine in South Carolina; and two in Virginia.
In many places in the Carolinas, the damage is already done. North Carolina agriculture officials estimate losses of $1.1 billion, mostly to crops in the field. Nearly three times the damage reported by farmers from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said the losses this year were greater because harvests were underway or just getting started.
Preliminary estimates show that about 2,000 homes have been damaged by flooding in South Carolina, half of them suffering major damage or being destroyed, said state Emergency Management Division Director Kim Stenson, adding that those numbers are far from final. Flooding still occurring could affect hundreds or thousands of additional homes.
Ivory Williamson took a boat Wednesday to check on the home she left four days ago in Bucksport, a small inland community about 12 miles from Myrtle Beach near the confluence of several rivers. Water is all over her yard and covers the roads, streets and buildings. It is worse than the 2016 flooding from Hurricane Matthew, she said.
“Now it’s the second time,” Williamson said. “We live near the water, but we won’t expect the water to bury us like this.”
The flood isn’t going away quickly. The newest predictions from South Carolina officials moved back the peak of the flooding from today to either Friday or Saturday in Georgetown County, where the most seriously flooded waterways — the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers — meet three other rivers on their way to the Atlantic Ocean.
The forecasts could change again, officials warned, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster joined the call for residents to not let down their guard.