New Florence flooding forecasts good news for SC
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 — the predictions aren’t as dire as they once were.
And it appears the Waccamaw River 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. But the latest forecast lowered that estimate to 2 to 4 feet, according to the county’s Facebook page.
“The water is spreading,” Georgetown County Administrator Sel Hemingway said Wednesday. “We are not seeing the vertical rise.”
Twelve days after the once-fierce 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 still adding up. North Carolina officials blamed the death of a 67-year-old man who fractured his neck cleaning up storm debris Sept. 18 in Craven County on the storm.
Florence 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 $1.1 billion in losses from Florence, most of it done to crops in the field.
Preliminary estimates show about 2,000 homes have been damaged by flooding in South Carolina, with half of them suffering major damage or being destroyed, said state Emergency Management Division Director Kim Stenson, adding those numbers are far from final with flooding still occurring that could affect hundreds or thousands of additional homes.
Ivory Williamson took a boat Wednesday to check on her 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 wasn’t going to go away quickly. The newest predictions from South Carolina officials moved back the peak of the flooding from Thursday 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 their guard down.
“We are still in full battle mode in Georgetown County,” McMaster said at a news conference Wednesday.
There appeared to be good news in Conway, too. The Waccamaw River, which flows through the city of 23,000, spent more than a day at just over 21.1 feet, some 6 inches under the predicted crest.
That could avert potential environmental and transportation problems. The river water was still just inches below a coal ash pond at a closed power plant in Conway, according to the state-owned utility Santee Cooper.
The floodwater from the river also had not made it over a temporary barrier quickly built on U.S. 501, the main link to Myrtle Beach. Water is touching the barrier of sand and plastic called the Lifeline, but is still well below the top of it, according to the state Department of Transportation.
In North Carolina, residents in Lumberton sued CSX Corp. saying the railroad company refused to give permission to build a temporary sandbag berm under a bridge until an emergency order from the governor at the last minute.