Flash Flood — Florence, South Carolina

2016-10-08 · near Kennedy Xrds, Florence, South Carolina

Event narrative

Rapidly moving flood waters swept a car and its occupant off Old River Road. The vehicle was later found 100 feet away from the roadway. The elderly man inside had died. The time was estimated.

Wider weather episode

Major Hurricane Matthew moved up the southeast coast and slowly weakened to a category 1 storm as it moved up along the South Carolina coast and then eastward near the North Carolina coast. The hurricane brought 6 to 12 inches of rain and up to 15 inches to some areas of northeast South Carolina, with the bulk of the rainfall occurring within a 12 hour period. This rain fell on wet to in some cases saturated soil due to much above normal rainfall in September. The result was historic flooding; widespread flash flooding, and an extended period of major to record river flooding. Matthew's flooding rains, surge and wind brought loss of life, displaced tens of thousands of people, and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in structural damage as homes and businesses were devastated or totally destroyed. Major infrastructure will have to be repaired or rebuilt.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.0920, -79.5741)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 664345. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.