Charleston soaked but recovering after Irma’s staggering flood

Storm-battered Charleston began drying out Tuesday from a hurricane-driven tidal surge that had turned the historic district and other parts of the Lowcountry into a watery mass of flooded streets, floating debris and swamped buildings.

A day after near record tides hit the Charleston area, the water had begun to recede as communities worked to recover from a flood caused by the remnants of Hurricane Irma.

High tides that flooded the downtown were among the most significant to hit Charleston in recent years. Surrounding areas, such as Isle of Palms and Folly Beach, also suffered from the storm surge associated with Irma. The damage included substantial beach erosion.

"Thankfully, we appear to have come through this storm with no loss of life or serious injury,’’ Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said in an afternoon statement. “That's a real blessing. Now, our job is to move forward with recovery efforts and get our city back to normal for our residents as quickly as possible."

Although Irma’s center remained hundreds of miles from South Carolina, the storm was so wide that its winds churned up the sea and whistled across much of the state. Along the coast, that was compounded by high tides that already were expected because of this month’s full moon.

Emergency officials warned that flooding would be a serious issue Monday, but that message didn’t register with everyone because the hurricane was so far away, local officials said.

Some of the most significant flooding occurred on Charleston’s Battery, a signature part of the city overlooking Charleston Harbor. Waves crashed over the seawall and onto the land. In other places, such as Isle of Palms, most roads were flooded Monday.

“Even for those who have experienced a lot of floods in this area, they were a bit awestruck that it came and it kept rising,’’ Isle of Palms City Administrator Linda Lovvorn Tucker said Tuesday.

Throughout much of the day Tuesday, Charleston and other municipalities ran pumps to siphon some of the water still standing from the tidal surge. Tides fell enough to allow much of the water to drain out of the historic district and beach towns, such as the Isle of Palms.

By mid-morning Tuesday in Charleston, less than one fifth of the 111 streets that flooded Monday remained closed, the city reported.

“The tide went out and we’ve got 12 mobile pumps working throughout the area, trying to get the water out faster,’’city spokesman Jack O’Toole said.

City police urged the public to stay away from the Battery area until the work was finished.

O’Toole characterized the flooding in downtown Charleston as worse this year than in the previous two years, when an unusual flood in 2015 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 drenched South Carolina.

Rainfall was heavy at times over the weekend and on Monday, but much of the flooding in the Charleston area was driven by storm surge and high tides.

At Charleston Harbor, the 9.9-foot tide reading from Hurricane Irma was slightly higher than during Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It was second only to the 12.5-foot-level registered during Hurricane Hugo in 1989, according to the National Weather Service.

Among the areas downtown that were filled with water Monday were the Market and parts of Broad Street. Most of the closed streets during the hurricane-generated tides were on the peninsula in the area of the historic district, officials said. Flooding also occurred in the West Ashley area, but was not as severe as during Matthew in 2016, he said.

Damage most likely will be found in the first floors of many buildings, although that remained to be determined, O’Toole said.

Outside of downtown Charleston, the seashore — including at Isle of Palms and Folly Beach — suffered heavy damage from the storm, local officials reported. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control planned to view the damage from the air Tuesday.

Tucker, the city administrator at Isle of Palms, said about two-dozen homes received some damage, with several of them sustaining substantial damage. The city’s seven-mile-long beach suffered major erosion, she said. Isle of Palms hired a contractor to establish an emergency berm, or large sand dune, to protect homes exposed to more damage from the ocean, Tucker said.

Folly Beach city administrator Spencer Wetmore said her community “got hit pretty hard, but we’re OK.’’ While Folly Beach has power and streets are passable, its shoreline suffered when high seas washed away parts of the beach.

“Our beach took a really strong hit,’’ ‘Wetmore said. “Just from the look of it, there was really serious erosion out there. I think that’s the main story right now.’’

Overall, most roads in the Charleston area were passable by mid-morning Tuesday, Charleston County officials said.

This story was originally published September 12, 2017 at 12:19 PM with the headline "Charleston soaked but recovering after Irma’s staggering flood."