No tornadoes reported as severe thunderstorms hit Midlands, rain to continue
Reports of downed trees and power lines scattered across the Midlands along with a few hundred power outages Thursday afternoon as severe thunderstorms rolled through the area. Possible strong winds remained a concern, while rain was likely to continue to fall through the evening.
No tornadoes had been reported in the Midlands as the storms seemed do die down in the early evening, and the worst parts of the storm were expected to be over by 7 or 8 p.m., forecasters said.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for parts of the Columbia area, while other parts of the Midlands were briefly placed under a tornado warning mid-afternoon Thursday.
The same line of storms brought extensive damage and reports of a possible tornado in the Upstate earlier in the day, along with more than 17,000 power outages across South Carolina by late afternoon.
A severe thunderstorm warning covered Columbia and surrounding areas including Pine Ridge, Eastover, Blythewood and Sumter until at least 4:45 p.m. A tornado warning issued for parts of the Midlands including Aiken, Saluda and Batesburg-Leesville expired at 3:45 p.m. No tornado touchdowns have been reported.
A tornado watch for Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, Aiken and Chesterfield counties was canceled around 5 p.m. as the storms largely died down.
As strong storms moved in from from the west, rain began falling in Richland and Lexington counties between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., with skies growing increasingly dark. Strong, isolated storm cells brought intense rain and wind in pockets throughout the Midlands.
In downtown Columbia, the University of South Carolina called off late afternoon and evening classes by 3:45 p.m. And in Lexington County, power lines had fallen in several areas, including the 1500 block of Broad Street in Leesville.
There were around 1,500 power outages in Richland, Lexington, Kershaw and Fairfield counties in the Midlands around 4:30 p.m.
The S.C. Emergency Management Division was monitoring the storms but had not put its Midlands emergency management center in Pine Ridge on full activation, according to spokesman Derrec Becker.
Doug Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia, said the Midlands have a “high probability of damaging winds.”
Sustained winds could be around 15-18 mph. But gusts could be much higher than that. Forecasters are seeing 70-80 mph winds at 1,000 feet above the ground, and it is possible a thunderstorm could push those winds downward, potentially creating gusts up to 80 mph, Anderson said.
Anderson called on those under flood watches and warnings to take precautions for possible flooding or flash flooding. The most important precaution to take is to avoid driving through a flooded roadway, he said.
“The majority of people who die are trying to drive,” Anderson said. “The biggest thing is to ... never try to drive through a flooded roadway.”
In 2015, when historic floods struck South Carolina, the majority of those who lost their lives were found in their vehicles.
However, that level of flooding is unlikely this week, Anderson said. The 2015 flooding was exacerbated by a series of broken dams. Anderson said he is not aware of any risks to major dams in the Midlands.
“We’re not in a situation similar to where we were in 2015,” he said.
Thursday’s storm system brought heavy damage to parts of the Upstate, where there were numerous tornado warnings throughout the morning and early afternoon and at least one possible tornado touchdown in Spartanburg, according to news reports. Fox Carolina television station reported two tractor trailers had been overturned and multiple businesses damaged.
There were widespread road closures in the Upstate as well, stretching south to Newberry County. Several streets in the city of Newberry were also closed due to running water, Becker said.
Also, a shelter was opened in Spartanburg for people whose homes had been damaged by the storm, he said.
More than 14,000 Duke Energy customers in the Upstate, mostly in Spartanburg County, were without power around midday.
In anticipation of possible dangerous conditions in the Midlands Thursday afternoon, schools in Richland and Lexington counties preemptively announced early closings. The S.C. State Museum in Columbia also closed early Thursday, and city-sponsored after-school activities were canceled.
Some grocery stores in downtown Columbia were packed at lunchtime before bad weather began, similar to the kinds of grocery store rushes seen ahead of hurricanes or snow and ice.
A flood warning for the Congaree River in Columbia is in effect through Tuesday, as the river already has swelled after an unusually rainy December and January.
Thursday’s predicted storms follow a month when nearly 6 inches of rain — 2 inches above average — were recorded at Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
“We have higher than normal flows and discharges in the rivers with all of that rainfall,” Anderson said. “The water tables are up higher than normal this time of year.”
David Travis Bland, Lucas Daprile, Noah Feit and Jeff Wilkinson contributed reporting.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 2:59 PM.
