An upper disturbance and a moist atmosphere led to showers and thunderstorms that produced locally heavy rain and flooding.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
An upper disturbance and a moist atmosphere led to showers and thunderstorms that produced locally heavy rain and flooding.
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 18, 7:36 AM EST, 39 minutes earlier.
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</html>Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Columbia SC 324 AM EDT Fri May 18 2018 GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-190730- Lincoln-McDuffie-Columbia-Richmond-Burke-Lancaster-Chesterfield- McCormick-Newberry-Fairfield-Kershaw-Edgefield-Saluda-Lexington- Richland-Lee-Aiken-Sumter-Barnwell-Orangeburg-Calhoun-Clarendon- Bamberg- 324 AM EDT Fri May 18 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Midlands of South Carolina and the Central Savannah River area of Georgia. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:16 UTC.
3 heavy rain, 3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
ASOS Unit at Orangeburg Municipal Airport measured a total rainfall amount of 2.87 inches in about a three hour period. Most of this total, 2.54 inches, fell in roughly an hour and a half from about 1000 am EDT (0900 EST) to 1130 am EDT (1030 EST).
The USGS rain gage on the US Hwy 301 bridge over the N. Fork of the Edisto R. recorded 3.24 inches of rain. Most of this rain fell between 1000 am EDT (0900 EST) and 1130 am EDT (1030 EST).
The NWS COOP observer at the Orangeburg Water Plant recorded 2.88 inches of rain. Most of this rain fell between 1000 am EDT (0900 EST) and 1130 am EDT (1030 EST). Runoff from the heavy rainfall resulted in a nearly 2 foot rise of the N. Fork of the Edisto R. at a gage at the US Hwy 301 bridge.
Vehicle stalled in flood waters at Broughton St and Whaley St in Orangeburg.
Road closure at Glover St and Stonewall Jackson Blvd in Orangeburg.
Flooding observed at a day care center on Russell St in Orangeburg. Children were rescued.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, May 2018
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: 759416, 759412, 759415, 759409, 759410, 759411.