Heavy rain from Debby leads to flooding creeks and rivers
Debby may have had serious coastal impacts, but some of the biggest dangers it poses now are inland, as AccuWeather's Bill Wadell explains.
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00:00So creeks in South Carolina's low country are on the rise with all of the rain from
00:04Debbie and one creek outside Charleston just entered major flood stage.
00:09AccuWeather's Bill Waddell is live in Berkeley County, South Carolina.
00:12Bill, families are being warned they have to, they may have to evacuate.
00:16Yeah, absolutely, Jeff, and this is exactly the situation that meteorologists at AccuWeather
00:23have been warning people about in this region for days, long before Debbie approached this
00:27area.
00:28They were warning this wouldn't just have a big impact at the coast, but well inland
00:32as well, and unfortunately that's happening right here in this community.
00:35I just got here moments ago, just spoke with a neighbor.
00:38This is French Quarter Creek behind me.
00:41The community is known as Hugey.
00:43This is in Berkeley County, about 45 to 50 minutes northeast of Charleston, and this
00:49creek right here quickly overflowing its banks.
00:52We have so much rain that's been coming in from Debbie with nowhere to go.
00:56These creeks and streams are just overloaded, having trouble flowing down to the coast,
01:01down to the bays and the harbors, and unfortunately this is what's happening.
01:04So we have a community here, a number of houses, looks like at least one business right along
01:09this waterway, and we're talking water that is at least a foot to two feet deep.
01:14So a warning was sent out here to people in this area that this is a flash flood warning,
01:19and as you can see for some folks, we just saw a car try to go down here, likely checking
01:24on friends or family, but again, a number of houses here appear to be going underwater
01:28as creeks continue to rise quickly from all of the rain that we've been seeing with Debbie
01:32over the past 24 to 48 hours.
01:35We want to show you some video back in the Charleston area, the low country of South
01:39Carolina dealing with a lot of water, and we know that Charleston knows all too well
01:43about flooding.
01:45The warnings were out and an emergency curfew was in place.
01:49It's still in effect right now, but some drivers still hit the road.
01:53They did not pay attention to that emergency curfew that's in order in the peninsula of
01:58Charleston, and unfortunately some drivers did get stuck in high water.
02:01Now the good news is that emergency officials are telling us for the most part the emergency
02:06curfew in Charleston has been working, that they have not had any injuries reported as
02:13of yet.
02:14We're expected to get a briefing from Charleston city officials within the next hour or so.
02:18A lot of questions about if and when that curfew is going to be lifted, but again, when
02:22you look at the radar, we know the Charleston area is getting a break from the impacts from
02:26Debbie right now, but so much rain that's been falling in this area, so much rain, well
02:33100 miles inland.
02:34Again, this is the problem, Jeff, that we've been warning about.
02:36So many people think tropical storms, all eyes are on the beach, everybody's looking
02:40for impacts with storm surge, rough surf, and yes, that did happen with Debbie, but
02:45the impacts that we're seeing right now here in South Carolina, we're talking about inland.
02:49Berkeley County, this is a flash flood warning here for French Quarter Creek, and waters
02:54rising quickly.
02:55We know that people are coming here to check on their loved ones and family members, and
02:59unfortunately, this is a situation we could be seeing all across the southeast over the
03:03next day or two.
03:04More creeks and rivers rising quickly.
03:07This is a life-threatening situation with the water rising so fast into major flood
03:11states, and again, this situation is only going to get worse after dark.
03:14That's very true, and to your point about inland flooding, Bill, I wanted to point out
03:18that Columbia, South Carolina, is also now under a flash flood warning, and this is right
03:23smack dab in the middle of the state, the state capital.
03:25So we're looking at Richland County and Lexington County of South Carolina now under a flash
03:30flood warning until 645 because of heavy rain moving in.
03:33This is a moisture-laden environment here.
03:35We're dealing with a lot of heavy rain.
03:37So we have lots going on here in the short term.
03:40Bill covered the squalls of rain there, and the fact that not everybody's seeing it at
03:44all times, but the flooding and the floodwaters are rising into Georgetown here.
03:49We are facing an ongoing, into Georgetown County and the city of Georgetown, a big influx
03:54in heavier rain again.
03:55The rain is lifting deeper north into more of North Carolina and across much of the Tar
04:01Heel state.