Tropical Storm — Coastal Chatham, Georgia

2021-07-07 to 2021-07-08 · Coastal Chatham, Georgia

Event narrative

Chatham County Emergency Management Agency reported numerous trees and powerlines down across the county. One tree fell on a house on Burbank Boulevard and a large tree was reported down on Johnny Mercer Boulevard near the Long Point neighborhood. Other trees were reported down including in the 20 block of Burbank Boulevard, Birchwood Circle, near the intersection of E 40th Street and Lincoln Street, the 1300 block of Seiler Avenue, near the intersection of Berkshire Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue, Burnsed Boulevard, the 7600 block of Laroche Avenue, the 100 block of Camilla, the 700 block of W 49th Street, the 400 block of Linwood Road, Garrard Avenue, and the intersection of Linwood Road and Deerfield Road.

Wider weather episode

Elsa initially developed as a Tropical Depression over the central tropical Atlantic late in the evening of June 30th, 2021. The system quickly tracked to the west-northwest and became Tropical Storm Elsa on the morning of July 1st, 2021 about 850 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands. Elsa strengthened to a hurricane and crossed the Windward Islands on July 2nd, 2021. Over the next several days, Elsa moved across the eastern Caribbean and weakened back to a Tropical Storm as it interacted with the higher terrain of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba. Elsa moved into the eastern Gulf of Mexico late in the evening of July 5th, 2021 and moved north along the west coast of Florida. Elsa made landfall as a Tropical Storm in Taylor County along the north Florida coast on the morning of July 7th, 2021. After landfall, Elsa weakened and tracked northeastward across portions of Georgia and South Carolina through July 8th, 2021. The primary impacts to southeast Georgia and southeast South Carolina included heavy rainfall, a few tornadoes, and gusty winds. Rainfall amounts peaked in the 6-8 inch range across portions of Charleston, Chatham, Beaufort, and Colleton counties. The heavy rainfall did produce some street flooding, causing some roadways to become impassable in and around Savannah and Charleston. Peak winds occurred along the Chatham, Jasper, and Beaufort county coasts where a Weatherflow site in Calibogue Sound measured a 70 knot wind gust. Elsewhere, wind gusts peaked in the 35-45 knot range producing scattered wind damage.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 969996. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.