2015: FROM DROUGHT TO DELUGE
Preliminary data published by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) revealed record rainfall in Charleston, S.C this year – and near-record precipitation in Columbia and Greenville.
And to think … midway through last year (a.k.a. 2015) we were looking at drought conditions throughout most of the state.
Obviously that was before “Floodmaggedon,” a massive deluge that rocked the Palmetto State in early October. S.C. governor Nikki Haley referred to that storm system as a “1,000-year flood,” although at least five other similar systems have hit the United States within the past six years.
Anyway, according to the preliminary data (official stats will be released in the coming weeks) Charleston, S.C. got 74.89 inches of the wet stuff in 2015 – breaking the record of 73.02 inches set back in 1964. Average annual rainfall in Charleston is 51.62 inches.
In Columbia, 63.6 inches of rain fell in 2015 – the fifth-wettest year on record. Average annual rainfall in the capital city is 47.09 inches.
In Greenville, 59.76 inches of precipitation were recorded last year – making it the eighth-wettest year on record. Average annual rainfall in Greenville is 49.57 inches.
We’ll have more on the climate situation in the coming days, so check back …
17 comments
An absolutely rivetting revelation. Second only to the latest non-news about Southern Charm’s dysfunctional scions and pylons.
Hey, I’d much rather hear about the weather than about Mark Sanford. At least the weather changes, and sometimes even for the better.
This happened about a month ago just outside of Pelion, a little town in the back country of South Carolina, and while it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it’s real, or so they say.
This out of state traveler was on the side of the road, hitchhiking on a real dark night in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Time passed slowly and no cars went by. It was raining so hard he could hardly see his hand in front of his face. Suddenly he saw a car moving slowly,
approaching and appearing ghostlike in the rain. It slowly and silently crept toward him and stopped.
Wanting a ride real bad the guy jumped in the car and closed the door; only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the wheel, and no sound of an engine to be heard over the rain.
Again the car crept slowly forward and the guy was terrified, too scared to think of jumping out and running.
The guy saw that the car was approaching a sharp curve and, still too scared to jump out, he started to pray and began begging for his life; he was sure the
ghost car would go off the road and into a nearby lake and he would surely drown!
But just before the curve a shadowy figure appeared at the driver’s window and a hand reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend. Then, just as silently, the hand disappeared through the window and the hitchhiker was alone again!
Paralyzed with fear, the guy watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally the guy, scared to near death, had all he could take and jumped out of the car and ran and ran, into Pelion, into safety.
Wet and in shock, he went into a bar and voice quavering, ordered two shots of whiskey, then told everybody about his supernatural experience.
A silence enveloped and everybody got goose bumps when they realized the guy was telling the truth and was not just some drunk.
About half an hour later two guys walked into the bar and one says to the other, — “Look Big’un, thars that idiot that rode in our car when we wuz pushin
it in the rain.”
http://courtneytsc.tripod.com/id19.html
The way I heard it, it was Wateree Swamp between Columbia and Sumter on Hwy. 378. 1930s-40s apparently.
Thanks for the new site …… here’s something for you but I don’t remember where I found it. I think it was an article about Mother’s Day with recollections from folks who were now adults
———————————————————————————–.
“My mom always tried to make birthdays special for me. One year, she put a life-sized inflatable clown in my room, like it’d be neat when I woke up. Let me just tell you guys — you don’t know fear until you wake up in the middle of the night to pee, and
there in the darkness is what appears to be a man in a clown outfit, watching you while you sleep.”
Did you hear about the time ole Will and his buddy were out bar hopping? Will, being kind of a dufuss, had trouble picking up the ladies, where as his buddy had no trouble at all. Ole Will asked this buddy how he did it. His buddy explained, I just walk up to a lady and say “Tickle your ass with a feather?”, if she smiles we strike up a conversation and one thing leads to another. If she says “What did you say?” I say “What do you think of the weather?” and move on.
Ole Will thinks he can do that and spot a lady at the bar and moves in. Using his best dufuss voice says to her, “Hey lady, tickle ya ass with a featha?”. She looks at him in bewilderment and says “What did you say?” and ole Will replies “Look at da fuckin rain”.
Thanks for a new one! I just like to pick on Pelion…..
It rained some this year? I must have missed that somehow…
Hopefully, the rain did not ruin your food stamps. Would hate if they got stuck together.
Notice how despite the very high Broad River floodwater right now there is no problem this time with flooding flow into the Columbia Canal. That is because National Guard sandbags are now doing the job that the inlet control gates are designed to do. And would have done to avoid the destruction of the canal dike if the negligent operators of the canal had maintained those simple but occasionally essential gates in some working order. Instead they are asking for $75,000,000 of your federal tax dollars to fix all the ensuing destruction. And without one iota of accountability, admission, or exposure. I’d even lay a bit of money on the guilty getting an award for their frenetic scurrying around after the destruction they caused.
Nobody in Columbia is ever held accountable for their actions. The State Newspaper is complicit in this betrayal. A newspaper with energy and a sense of social justice would hound the crooks out of town. But the State celebrates them (in the name of diversity).
Anyone advertising in the state is complicit with the rampant illegality of the City of Columba.
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NWS says Waccamaw River will flood again tonight.
It’s a tale of two cities: one above and one below the dam. Decades of infrastructure neglects has created a situation where rain fall forces SCE&G to comply with federal energy regulations and send water i to neighborhoods which should not have been built. Playoffs and good ole boys politics has put SC’s infrastructure (dams, roads, grid) into 3rd world category. Turnaround time : decades – but Trump is gonna make the US great again, right? Columbia will be famously wet for thenext years.
First, a flood risk is a measurement for a particular location, stream or watershed. Since there are many thousands of streams and watersheds throughout the United States, it is statistically likely that 1000 year floods occur more frequently than 1000 years. More clearly, there is a 0.1% chance of a flood occurring in a particular year in one area, but multiplied by the thousands of areas in the United States increases the number of events. Also it is only a statistical average, like rolling a die. There is only one sixth of a chance of rolling a six, but it is possible to roll consecutive sixes. Likewise 1000 year floods may occur more or less frequently.
For land owners, insurers, development planners and others, FEMA maps the estimated extent of 50 and 100 year floods or more accurately the areas with a 2% or 1% chance of being flooded in any one year. The only difference for those within these flood areas between a 50 or 100 year flood and a 1000 year flood is how deep is the flooding. That difference may only be foot of water. Many areas will be far enough above steam or river banks that they not subject to flooding no matter how much it rains. In other words, some areas can not experience a thousand year flood.
Though some areas can not experience a 1000 year flood event they may along with flood areas can experience a 1000 year rain event. The U S Geological Survey has published a web page that specifically addresses South Carolina’s recent flooding.
http://water.usgs.gov/floods/events/2015/Joaquin/HolmesQA.html
So if you want to be more technical than the usual layman is knowledgeable, or interested Nikki Haley could have been more precise in her wording.
I don’t know if it was a hundred year or thousand year flood. What I do know is , when asked to help the farmers of SC survive she didn’t. I guess she gets her food at the grocery store. Just another sorry politician. Surprise, surprise surprise.