French Riviera ravaged by ‘apocalyptic’ flash floods that have left 17 dead

October 2015 – SOUTH CAROLINA – South Carolina’s record-smashing days of rain created a 1,000-year flood event that scientists may be studying for years, caused by a confluence of weather events. Some parts of the Charleston area received twice as much rain as Hurricane Hugo dropped in 1989, though mercifully without hurricane winds or a storm surge. Tropical moisture from Hurricane Joaquin and a second storm system was squeezed by two conflicting weather systems “into a narrow band of intense rainfall” funneled directly at South Carolina, according to AccuWeather. “I have never seen rainfall this intense, in this large of an area and during this short of a period in absence of direct impact from a tropical storm or hurricane,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams. The storms resulted in what’s known as a 1,000-year flood, but scientists caution that doesn’t mean such flooding won’t be seen again during our lifetimes.

“You can, in theory, have a 1,000-year flood the very next day,” said Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In a 100-year flood zone, there’s a 1 percent chance of flooding each year, and homeowners are typically required to have flood insurance. In a 1,000-year flood area, there’s a one-tenth of 1 percent yearly chance of flooding, but that doesn’t mean there will be 1,000 years between floods. “We certainly don’t have precipitation records going back 1,000 years,” said meteorologist Emily Timte of the National Weather Service, Charleston. The last rain event that comes close was in June 1973, when an unnamed tropical system dumped 16.56 inches on the Charleston area over four days.

During the first four days of this month, some parts of the Charleston area reported more than 2 feet of rain, and the 17.29 inches recorded at Charleston International Airport was enough to break all the records. “We beat the greatest one-day, two-day, three-day and four-day rainfalls,” Timte said. The heavy rains came during a time of unusually high tides, and with soil already saturated by heavy rain in late September. As a result, rainfall was less able to either soak into the ground or flow into the sea. In downtown Charleston, the harbor lapped over the seawall at The Battery, water came up through storm drains and the entire peninsula was closed to non-resident vehicles on Saturday.

Some neighborhoods in North Charleston and in suburban and rural areas were flooded so badly that residents were evacuated by emergency crews, in one case by helicopter. Upstate, streams became angry rivers, washing away roads and vehicles. Eleven deaths were reported in South Carolina and two in North Carolina, including at least seven drowning victims. “This was historic,” Ekwurzel said. “People will be studying this one.” –Post and Courier

October 2015 – SOUTH CAROLINA – Charleston, South Carolina (CNN)—A deluge roared over the East Coast on Saturday, causing blackouts and evacuations and threatening all-time rainfall records in South Carolina and the southern Appalachians. Three people died on Friday and Saturday in traffic incidents in South Carolina, and a car passenger died in North Carolina on Thursday when a tree fell on Interstate 95, officials said. The deaths were blamed on the weather. The potentially historic precipitation will last all 48 hours of the weekend, due to a 1-2 punch from Hurricane Joaquin over the open Atlantic and a second weather system: Joaquin drenches the Northeast and a separate low-pressure rainmaker dumps on the Southeast.

As if one wasn’t bad enough. Parts of the South Carolina coast braced for likely flooding with more than 15 inches. In tourist destination Myrtle Beach, water began to swallow a substation, causing power outages in the area, according to CNN affiliate WBTW. “I’m a good citizen and I’m going to obey,” Shirley Jones, of Charleston, said of official advisories to stay home and out of the knee-deep water. “I’m going to hole up in my apartment and clean out my dresser.” As of 7 a.m., Charleston already broke its daily record rainfall of 3.46 inches. As South Carolina residents hunkered down, up to 500 residents were evacuated in coastal Brunswick County, North Carolina, that state’s governor said.

Flood and flash flood watches are posted from Georgia to Delaware through at least Sunday. “The magnitude of rainfall coupled with already-wet soil will bring about the threat of potential significant flooding impacting life and property,” CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. “There is also and increased threat of landslides and debris flows across the mountains and foothills of the Carolinas. “Life-threatening rip currents, high surf, and coastal flooding, mainly at high tides, will stretch nearly the entire eastern U.S. coast,” he added, noting wind gusts that could reach 30 mph and could topple trees. A foot of rain could befall the Southern Appalachians. The Northeast could see two inches. And up to four inches could strike the waterfront between Georgia and New Jersey. The low pressure over the Southeast is funneling a deep atmosphere river of tropical moisture into the Carolinas, creating the torrential rainfall, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said. –CNN