Heavy rains produced flash flooding in downtown Columbia at Main and Whaley streets and in the 5-points area.
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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.
The episode as NWS CAE wrote it up.
Heavy rains produced flash flooding in downtown Columbia at Main and Whaley streets and in the 5-points area.
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 Aug 9, 6:24 PM EST, 2 hours 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 724 PM EDT SAT AUG 9 2014 .SYNOPSIS... A NEARLY STATIONARY FRONTAL ZONE WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK. THE FRONT WILL BRING NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM SUNDAY MORNING/... UPDATE: UNSTABLE AIR MASS REMAINS ACROSS THE AREA EARLY THIS EVENING. LIFTED INDICES FROM MINUS 6C SOUTH TO AROUND 0C EXTREME NORTH MIDLANDS. VERY MOIST AIRMASS WITH DEWPOINTS IN THE LOW TO MID 70S. SATELLITE INDICATING A SURFACE BOUNDARY DRIFTING SOUTHWESTWARD ACROSS THE PEE DEE REGION. SEA BREEZE BOUNDARY ACROSS THE LOW COUNTRY...APPROACHING THE SOUTHEAST MIDLANDS. SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE EASTERN MIDLANDS TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS. SHOULD SEE SOME DECREASE AFTER SUNSET. NO CONVECTION ACROSS THE WESTERN COUNTIES. HOWEVER WILL KEEP CHANCE POPS WEST GIVEN WEAK SHORT WAVE APPROACHING WITH CONVECTION MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL GA. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION: ANOTHER SHORT WAVE WILL MOVE THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT CONTINUING TO ENHANCE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. CAN SEE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AS PW VALUES REMAIN ABOVE 2.0. SHORT WAVE WILL LEAVE THE AREA AFTER MIDNIGHT. WILL HAVE CHANCE POPS INCREASING TO LIKELY POPS EARLY TONIGHT THEN DIMINISH TO CHC POPS AGAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT. SHOULD SEE OVERNIGHT LOWS 70 TO 75. WITH WEAK PRESSURE GRADIENT ACROSS THE STATE WILL HAVE LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS THROUGH TONIGHT. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/... THE NAM AND GFS DISPLAY THE FRONT LINGERING IN THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. ALTHOUGH THE FRONT MAY DRIFT SLIGHTLY NORTH/SOUTH THROUGH THE PERIOD...IT WILL LIKELY HAVE LITTLE EFFECT ON THE ACTUAL FORECAST. BUFKIT SHOWS ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE THROUGH THE PERIOD. HIGH MOISTURE AND CONVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT SUPPORT THE HIGHER GUIDANCE POPS ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH SECTION WHERE THE MODELS INDICATE STRONGER CONVERGENCE AND DEEPER MOISTURE. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN MAY OCCUR WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER JUST OVER 2 INCHES AND A DIFLUENT 1000-500 MB THICKNESS PATTERN WITH DEPTHS NEAR 574 DAM WHICH FAVORS HEAVY RAIN IN AUGUST. LEANED TOWARD THE COOLER HIGH TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE AND WARMER LOW TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE BECAUSE OF CLOUDINESS THROUGH THE PERIOD. HAVE STAYED WITH OR RAISED SLIGHTLY POPS THROUGH MUCH OF THE PERIOD. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... THE GFS AND ECMWF DISPLAY A STALLED FRONT OR TROUGH IN THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH MUCH OF THE MEDIUM-RANGE PERIOD. THE MODELS SHOW DEEPER MOISTURE SHIFTING EAST OF THE AREA WEDNESDAY. THE MODELS INDICATE HIGH PRECIPITABLE WATER AND A CONTINUED THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN EARLY IN THE PERIOD. LEANED TOWARD AN AVERAGE OF THE GFS...ECMWF...AND EKD MOS FOR THE POP FORECAST. THE MOS SUPPORTS TEMPERATURES NEAR CLIMATOLOGY. && .AVIATION /00Z SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... RADAR INDICATING SCT TSRA MAINLY E AND S FORECAST AREA (FA). LATEST HIGH RESOLUTION MODELS SUGGEST POTENTIAL FOR SCT CONVECTION TO AFFECT THE TERMINALS THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT. WILL HANDLE WITH VCSH UNTIL CONFIDENCE OF PRECIP AND TS AFFECTING THE TERMINALS INCREASES. WEDGE BOUNDARY TO OUR NE EXPECTED TO SLIP BACK DOWN INTO OUR FA TONIGHT...WITH SOME MODEL OUTPUT SUGGESTING IFR CIGS DEVELOPING...ALONG WITH SOME VSBY RESTRICTIONS...OVER OUR FA LATE TONIGHT. WILL MAINTAIN MENTION OF SUCH. SLOW IMPROVEMENT TO VFR EXPECTED BY MIDDAY TO EARLY AFTERNOON SUNDAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED SUNDAY...AND ARE EXPECTED TO BE DIURNALLY FAVORED. FOR NOW...WILL CARRY VCSH IN THE AFTERNOON. EXTENDED AVIATION OUTLOOK...LATE NIGHT AND MORNING MVFR TO IFR RESTRICTIONS IN LOW CLOUDS AND/OR FOG EXPECTED...ALONG WITH GOOD CHANCES OF MAINLY DIURNAL THUNDERSTORMS...THROUGH TUESDAY. && .CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...NONE. GA...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 303 AM EDT SAT AUG 9 2014 GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-100715- LINCOLN-MCDUFFIE-COLUMBIA-RICHMOND-BURKE-LANCASTER-CHESTERFIELD- MCCORMICK-NEWBERRY-FAIRFIELD-KERSHAW-EDGEFIELD-SALUDA-LEXINGTON- RICHLAND-LEE-AIKEN-SUMTER-BARNWELL-ORANGEBURG-CALHOUN-CLARENDON- BAMBERG- 303 AM EDT SAT AUG 9 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL GEORGIA AND CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN MAY OCCUR TODAY AND TONIGHT. LOCALIZED FLOODING IS POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN MAY OCCUR SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. LOCALIZED FLOODING IS POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 9 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:28 UTC.
3 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
USGS river gage at the Rocky Branch Branch Creek at Blossom and Pickens Streets reached 9.19 feet at 930pm. Flood state is 7.2 feet.
Rocky Branch Creek at Main and Whaley Streets peaked at 10.36 feet at 945pm. Flood stage is 7.2 feet.
Public reported a vehicle flooded at the intersection of Main and Whaley Streets with water 4 feet above the road covering the hood of the vehicle. Four occupants had to be rescued with no injuries.
A total of 2.28 inches of rain fell at the NWS rain gage at the Univ. of SC this evening. Two inches of rain fell in just 30 minutes from 855pm to 925 pm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, August 2014
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: 526218, 526219, 526220, 526221.