Which Columbia streets are prone to flooding? Watch these areas as heavy rain looms
With up to 3 inches of rain possible in the Columbia area Thursday and Friday, drivers should be aware of certain streets that are historically prone to flooding.
Columbia officials have identified these flood-prone streets and intersections and urge drivers to avoid them during and immediately following heavy rains:
▪ Main and Whaley
▪ Gervais and Laurens
▪ Blossom and Henderson
▪ Blossom and Saluda
▪ Harden and Santee
▪ Monroe and Maple
▪ Two Notch and Read
▪ Wheat and Amherst
▪ Adger and Devine
▪ Wheat and Sumter
▪ Wheat and Pickens
▪ Heyward and Ravenel
▪ Pickens between Wheat and Green
▪ Barnwell and Pendleton
▪ Harden and Read
▪ Harden and Calhoun
▪ Franklin and Marion
▪ Franklin and Sumter
▪ Columbia College and N. Main
▪ Bull and Laurel
The University of South Carolina in downtown Columbia is telling commuters parked in flood-prone areas of campus to move their cars. The gates are up and will remain open at Athletics Village, Blossom Street, Bull Street and Senate Street garages until the threat of flooding ends, according to USC.
The Columbia area is bracing for severe storms predicted to roll through Thursday afternoon and evening, with rain forecast to continue through Friday morning. Low-lying areas and places with poor drainage are particularly susceptible to flooding, and already-swollen rivers could cause flooding over the weekend and into next week.
Thursday’s predicted storms will follow an unusually rainy January, 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,” said Doug Anderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Columbia. “The water tables are up higher than normal this time of year.”
The South Carolina Highway Patrol also is warning drivers to take the wet and windy conditions into consideration.
“As more rain moves in, SLOW down and limit your distractions,” Master Trooper David Jones said on Twitter. “Never drive through any flooded roads.”
“(Be) watchful for flooded roadways, give yourself extra stopping distance and remember that if your windshield wipers are on, your headlights should be as well,” the Lexington Police Department tweeted.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation offed this guidance to anyone coming across water in a roadway.
▪ Obey all signs and never drive around barricades — “Turn Around, Don’t Drown”
▪ One foot of water can make a car float.
▪ Two feet of rushing water can carry most vehicles including trucks and SUVs.
▪ Six inches of fast-moving water can knock over and carry away an adult.
▪ Do not attempt to drive through flooded areas, as the road bed might have washed away under the water
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 12:01 PM.
