The inland hurricane risk South Carolina can’t ignore

In South Carolina, tropical systems don't always do their worst damage at the coast. While storm surge remains a major shoreline threat, rainfall can quickly take over the story inland — turning highways, rivers, and entire communities into the next phase of the disaster.

In this state, rain is often the most destructive part of a tropical system. Slow-moving storms can dump extreme amounts of rain, driving flash flooding, river flooding, and some of the state’s worst structural damage well inland — even when wind is not the main story. and in 2024, Helene and Debby showed again how stalled or slow-moving systems can push rivers to record crests and turn inland flooding into a bigger disaster. Here's meteorologist Leslie Hudson with more. Click the Youtube short below:

Florence remains the clearest modern example of how quickly a South Carolina storm can become a water emergency. It dropped 23.63 inches of rain near Loris, set the state’s tropical-cyclone rainfall record, and helped force the closure of I-95 for roughly a week.