South Carolina, 2010

Rip Current in South Carolina, July 3, 2010

July 3, 2010 · NWS CHS · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Breezy onshore winds resulted in numerous rip currents at South Carolina beaches.

The toll

Deaths
1
Injuries
1
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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 CHS wrote it up.

Breezy onshore winds resulted in numerous rip currents at South Carolina beaches.

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 Charleston, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 2, 6:40 PM EST, 16 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 6:40 PM EST, 16 hours 20 minutes before
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Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Southern Colleton

When
July 3, 11:00 AM EST
Where
Southern Colleton forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
Other Federal Agency

Four people were caught in a rip current around 12 pm EDT near the pier at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Two individuals were able to free themselves from the rip current and swim back to shore, one individual was rescued with injuries and the other drowned. The drowning victim, James Jordan, was a 19 year old male from Denmark, South Carolina. The body was recovered around 2 pm EDT by search and rescue officials. The injured individual was flown by helicopter to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). The Colleton county, South Carolina Coroner, Richard M. Harvey, confirmed the drowning was the result of a strong rip current near the vicinity of the Edisto Beach pier.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Rip Current, Southern Colleton2010-07-0319MaleIn WaterDirect

What these are

Rip Current
A narrow, fast current flowing away from the beach that caused a drowning or rescue.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Carolina in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, July 2010

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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 246808.