Flash Flood — Abbeville, South Carolina

2021-10-07 · near Antreville, Abbeville, South Carolina

Event narrative

County comms and emergency management reported flash flooding developed over northern Abbeville County after 4 to 6 inches of rain fell over just a couple of hours in association with a slow moving thunderstorm cluster. Flash flooding was most concentrated in the Antreville and Lake Secession area, where multiple roads were flooded and some damaged due to inundation. These included Lake Secession Rd, Highway 284, and a portion of Highway 28. A few water rescues occurred in these areas as well. Gilgal Church Rd was also flooded north of Abbeville.

Wider weather episode

A slow moving area of upper level low pressure over the Mid-Mississippi Valley pumped semi-tropical weather into the western Carolinas for a couple of days, resulting in occasional rounds of moderate to heavy in the day leading up to the 7th. Scattered slow-moving thunderstorm clusters developed during the morning of the 7th, producing torrential rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour and total rainfall amounts of 3 to 7 inches, much of which fell in just 2 to 3 hours. This excessive rainfall resulted in flash flooding of a number of creeks and other small streams in the Piedmont.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.2890, -82.5630)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 988923. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.