Rip Current in South Carolina, September 13, 2020

Name: Rip Current in South Carolina, September 13, 2020
Start: 2020-09-13T17:22
End: 2020-09-13T17:37
Location: South Carolina

September 13, 2020 · NWS CHS · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Onshore winds and increased swell energy from Tropical Cyclone Sally in the northeast Gulf of Mexico helped produce an elevated risk of rip currents along the southeast South Carolina coast.

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.

Onshore winds and increased swell energy from Tropical Cyclone Sally in the northeast Gulf of Mexico helped produce an elevated risk of rip currents along the southeast South Carolina coast.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Charleston

When: September 13, 5:22 PM EST to 5:37 PM EST
Where: Charleston forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Local broadcast media reported that 3 people were rescued from a rip current at Folly Beach near a no swimming zone at Folly Beach County Park. No lifeguards were on duty as their daily coverage had already ended and beachgoers present at the time went into the water to help. A 6 year old boy was reportedly swept away from shore by a rip current. The boy was pulled from the water and hospitalized at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children's Hospital where he later died. A woman of unknown age was rescued and also hospitalized, but later released. Finally, an 8 year old boy was also rescued from the rip current but was unharmed and not hospitalized.

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.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Rip Current, Charleston	2020-09-13	6	Male	In Water	Direct

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

Every storm in South Carolina in 2020 Every state in 2020 This day in weather history Warnings in South Carolina, September 2020

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: 921360.