Tropical Storm — Inland Chatham, Georgia

2016-10-08 · Inland Chatham, Georgia

Event narrative

The public reported a large pine tree and power lines down during Hurricane Matthew. Large limbs were also reported down on some homes.

Wider weather episode

Matthew first developed into a Tropical Storm about 35 miles southeast of St. Lucia on September 28 before quickly strengthening into a powerful hurricane as it tracked westward across the Caribbean Sea. Matthew then became a hurricane about 190 miles northeast of Curacao on September 29th before reaching Category 5 strength the following day. Matthew then weakened slightly while turning north toward the Greater Antilles, remaining a Category 4 hurricane as it made landfall over Haiti's Tiburon Peninsula early on October 4th. Matthew then continued north while maintaining a Category 4 strength before making a second landfall near the Guantanamo Province in Cuba later that day. Land interaction helped reduce the strength of Matthew to a Category 3 hurricane, before it re-intensified into a Category 4 hurricane while tracking northwest toward the Bahamas. Matthew then tracked about 25 miles west of Nassau before making landfall for a 3rd time over Grand Bahama about 15 miles west-northwest of Freeport as a Category 4 hurricane on October 6th. Matthew then continued on a north-northwest track toward Florida before paralleling much of the Southeast coast in a slowly weakening state over the next couple days. Matthew tracked parallel to the northern half of the Southeast Georgia coast as a Category 2 hurricane (110 mph), before continuing to weaken to a Category 1 hurricane (85 mph) while passing much of the lower Southeast South Carolina coast. Minimum surface pressures of 983.1 mb at Savannah International Airport (KSAV), 980.6 mb at Beaufort Airport (KNBC) and 981.7 mb at Charleston International Airport (KCHS) where recorded as Matthew passed just offshore. Matthew then made its 4th and final landfall as a weak Category 1 hurricane (75 mph) near McClellanville, SC at approximately 1045 AM on October 8th. Matthew then re-emerged into the western Atlantic shortly after, briefly maintaining hurricane strength before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone on October 9th as it pulled away from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Across southeast Georgia and southeast South Carolina, the main impacts from Matthew included heavy rain, wind damage in the form of scattered to widespread trees and power lines blown down and storm surge, specifically along coastal locations from Tybee Island, GA north to Edisto Beach, SC. Storm total rainfall amounts generally ranged from 4.5 to 7 inches across western areas of Southeast Georgia and extreme western locations of Southeast South Carolina to 8 to 17 inches closer to the coast, highest in coastal counties of Southeast Georgia and the lower Southeast South Carolina coast. A peak storm total rainfall of 17.49 inches was recorded at Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia while a peak storm total rainfall of 16.90 inches was recorded near Edisto Island, SC. Daily record rainfall totals were also set on October 7th and October 8th at the Savannah International Airport (KSAV), 4.36 inches and 3.84 inches, at the Charleston International Airport (KCHS), 4.7 inches and 5.77 inches and in downtown Charleston (KCXM), 4.36 inches and 3.84 inches respectively. Heavy rains also led to several instances of flash flooding with damage to roads and homes and helped produce long duration flooding along the Edisto River, Ashley River and Santee River. Wind damage produced numerous to widespread power outages and damage to homes and other structures throughout the area, most significantly at locations near the coast where 60 mph to 100 mph wind gusts occurred with rainbands surrounding the passing eye wall. On October 8th, a maximum sustained wind of 75 mph and peak wind gust of 96 mph was recorded at the Tybee Island South sensor (XTYE) in Georgia while a maximum sustained wind of 67 mph was recorded at the Beaufort (XBUF) sensor in South Carolina and peak wind gust of 87 mph was recorded at the Hilton Head Airport (KHXD) sensor in South Carolina. Three deaths and 1 injury occurred from trees falling on homes or cars in Southeast Georgia. The most extensive damage came with storm surge during Matthew. The entire Southeast Georgia and Southeast South Carolina coast was impacted by storm surge generally ranging between 2 to 5 ft with some locations as high as 6 to 8 ft. A peak surge of 7.69 ft occurred at the Fort Pulaski tide gauge at 248 AM October 8th while a peak surge of 6.20 ft occurred at the Charleston Harbor tide gauge at 5 AM October 8th. Damage from surge was most notable on the northern ends of Tybee Island in Georgia, Fripp Island in South Carolina and Edisto Island in South Carolina. Locations on Fripp Island and Edisto Island saw some of the most significant beach erosion and damage to oceanfront homes in the entire area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 664269. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.