Heavy Rain in South Carolina
Every heavy rain event the National Weather Service has filed in South Carolina, year by year, with the most significant episodes. Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
The most significant on the map
The most significant heavy rain episodes in South Carolina.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The record
- Events
- 282
- Deaths
- 5
- Injuries
- 27
- Damage
- $3.5 million
Every year
The most significant
Ranked by deaths, injuries, damage and size together.
- Flash Flooding and Flood in South Carolina, October 3 to 7, 2015Heavy rain in the Midlands...Pee Dee produced flash flooding in across the area. Numerous dams were breached along with numerous bridge and roadways flooded and damaged.
- Damaging Winds and Heavy Rain in South Carolina, July 22, 2025Several clusters of thunderstorms developed in the afternoon hours across southeast South Carolina near a stationary front and associated weak area of low pressure. These storms moved to the southwest along outflow boundaries and produced damaging wind gusts.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in South Carolina, July 9 to 10, 2013Slow moving thunderstorm complexes developed for a second evening over Upstate South Carolina. The storms caused a few areas of flash flooding and knocked down several trees, mainly due to wet ground.
- Flash Flooding and Coastal Flood in South Carolina, December 17, 2023A low pressure system developed over the Gulf of Mexico and tracked northeast across the Florida Peninsula in the early morning hours of December 17th, then strengthened across warm Atlantic waters while passing along the Southeast Coast, bringing impacts in the form of major…
- Tornadoes and Tropical Storm in South Carolina, August 5 to 9, 2024Debby first developed into a tropical storm about 100 miles west-southwest of Key West, Florida late afternoon on August 3rd, then gradually strengthened to a strong tropical storm while tracking north across the eastern Gulf of Mexico on August 4th.
- Damaging Winds and Heavy Rain in South Carolina, August 13, 2010A hot and humid air mass created surface based CAPE values near 4500 J/kg and lifted indices near -8 during peak heating hours. Thunderstorms initiated during the evening hours as a stationary front just to the north of the county warning area interacted with a sea breeze.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in South Carolina, October 2 to 5, 2015A deep amplitude east coast upper trough closed off across the southeast states for several days while a surface front meandered across the area. Deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean continued to feed into the area.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flood in South Carolina, August 26 to 27, 2008The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay stalled just west of the Appalachians and slowly dissipated.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in South Carolina, October 7 to 8, 2016Hurricane Matthew impacted the region on the night of Friday, October 7th and during much of the day on Saturday, October 8th. Tropical Storm force wind gusts were observed across most of the SC Midlands and Central Savannah River Area.
- Tropical Storm and Storm Surge in South Carolina, September 5 to 6, 2008Tropical Storm Hanna came ashore near the NC/SC border, with winds over 40 mph and heavy rain. Rainfall amounts averaged between four and six inches. There were multiple road closures in Horry county, due to the heavy rain and minor storm surge.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in South Carolina, July 23 to 24, 1997The remnants of Hurricane Danny moved out of northeast Georgia and across the Upstate from the late afternoon on the 23rd through the early morning of the 24th. Two weak, short-lived tornadoes were spawned. One in Abbeville county downed trees and power lines.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in South Carolina, April 5, 2017With a mean upper trough axis to our west, a lead impulse moved through our region in a SW flow aloft Wednesday. At the surface, a stationary front was stretched across central SC/GA, with a cold front to our west, that came through late Wednesday night.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, August 1, 2016A strong short wave trough passed through the region, which was entrenched in a moist, warm and moderately unstable airmass. The short wave picked up convective development along a lee-side/thermal trough in the Upstate and Northern Midlands.
- Tornado and Tropical Storm in South Carolina, August 30 to 31, 2023Lifting up out of the Big Bend of Florida, Hurricane Idalia weakened to a Tropical Storm as it moved out of southeastern Georgia. The tropical system then moved northeast along the coastal plain of South Carolina.
- Heavy Rain in South Carolina, October 6 to 8, 2005The remnants of Tropical Storm Tammy, in conjunction with a weak upper level disturbance in the Caribbean set up an unusually long and sustained fetch of tropical moisture over the area.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in South Carolina, May 24, 2017An upper disturbance ahead of an upper trough, combined with considerable atmospheric instability, moisture, and shear ahead of an approaching surface cold front, to produce shower and thunderstorm activity.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in South Carolina, July 10, 2012Scattered thunderstorms produced damaging winds and some hail around the Midlands. Most wind damage was from trees and powerlines going down. Locally heavy rains also caused flash flooing in Downtown Columbia.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, September 25, 2011Scattered thunderstorms around the Midlands produced significant wind damage with storms taking down trees and powerlines. Some of these storms produced heavy rain with 1 to 3 inches falling in several areas within an hour or two causing some flash flooding.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in South Carolina, June 2 to 3, 2013Heavy rains from training thunderstorms produced copious amounts of rain generally along and north of I-20 in Aiken and Edgefields. Heavy rains also caused flash flooding in North Augusta causing evacuations of two apartment complexes.
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, June 22, 2023An upper level cutoff low was located over central TN with precipitable water values around 2 inches with deep southerly flow. A warm front lifted through the area and stalled across the western Midlands of SC with elevated thunderstorms training along the front by evening.
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, June 2, 2013Despite effective bulk shear values of less than 25 knots, a mini-supercell thunderstorm developed in an airmass characterized by high surface dewpoints ahead of a tropical cyclone over the Gulf of Mexico. The storm produced an E1 tornado over western Anderson County.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in South Carolina, October 3 to 4, 2015A slow-moving area of upper level low pressure tapped into a tropical moisture feed associated with Hurricane Joaquin (located across the western Atlantic, well off the southeast coast) to produce periods of moderate to heavy rainfall across Upstate South Carolina throughout the…
- Tropical Storm and Flash Flooding in South Carolina, September 14 to 17, 2018Hurricane Florence began as an area of disturbed weather that moved west off the African coast around August 29-30, 2018. It gradually developed into a tropical cyclone on August 31, 2018 while just south of the Cape Verde islands.
- Flash Flood and Hail in South Carolina, July 27, 2010Severe thunderstorms rumbled across the county warning area producing more wet microburst that took down trees and powerlines.
- Flash Flooding and Flood in South Carolina, September 2, 2016Tropical Storm Hermine impacted the region, especially on the 2nd with heavy rain and strong gusty winds. The center of TS Hermine tracked to the NE across S and SE GA during the morning of Sept. 2nd, and across the coastal plain of SC during the afternoon and evening of the 2nd.
More
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.