South Carolina, 2009

Flash Flooding in South Carolina, May 25, 2009

May 25, 2009 · NWS CAE · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Slow moving thunderstorms over Orangeburg, Bamberg, and Barnwell counties produces heavy rains with amounts of 2 to 4 inches reported.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$16,000
Crop damage
$24,000
Events
3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS CAE wrote it up.

Slow moving thunderstorms over Orangeburg, Bamberg, and Barnwell counties produces heavy rains with amounts of 2 to 4 inches reported.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Columbia, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 24, 6:40 PM EST, 23 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 24, 6:40 PM EST, 23 hours before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:38 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Orangeburg

When
May 25, 5:40 PM EST to 7:00 PM EST
Where
Orangeburg County, 3.9 mi ENE of Orangeburg to 3.16 mi ESE of Cope
Cause
Heavy Rain
Property damage
$8,000
Crop damage
$16,000
Reported by
Law Enforcement
Coordinates
33.513, -80.804

Sheriff reported several roads closed due to 1 to 3 feet of water in some areas. Whittaker Parkway, U.S 21, and U.S. 178 were closes as were several roads in Cordova and Cope.

Flash Flood, Bamberg

When
May 25, 6:00 PM EST to 7:30 PM EST
Where
Bamberg County, 2.16 mi WSW of Bamberg to 1.15 mi NNW of Bamberg
Cause
Heavy Rain
Property damage
$4,000
Crop damage
$4,000
Reported by
Law Enforcement
Coordinates
33.286, -81.063

Sheriff reported several roads flooded with 1 to 3 feet of water in Bamberg and the surrounding area.

Flash Flood, Barnwell

When
May 25, 6:15 PM EST to 7:30 PM EST
Where
Barnwell County, 2.38 mi W of Blackville to 2.86 mi SSW of Healing Spgs
Cause
Heavy Rain
Property damage
$4,000
Crop damage
$4,000
Reported by
Law Enforcement
Coordinates
33.345, -81.311

Sheriff reported flooding on several roads in and around Blackville with 1 to 3 feet of water.

What these are

Flash Flood
Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Carolina in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, May 2009

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 160858, 160853, 160855.