(Columbia) Sept. 17, 2004 - The remnants of Hurricane
Ivan brought another dousing for residents in Upstate
South Carolina who are still recovering from Frances.
The storm spun off tornadoes and high winds in the
Upstate as it tracked across Alabama on Thursday. By
Friday morning it was over eastern Tennessee. National Hurricane
Center>> Severe
Weather Alerts>>
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood
watch through 6:00am Sunday for the Upstate.
Oconee County officials estimate ten tornadoes
brought down trees and power lines. One person suffered
a minor injury after tree fell on a mobile home.
Scattered power outages were reported.
A confirmed tornado touched down around 5:00pm
Thursday near the intersection of Andrew Coleman Road
and Hickory Grove Road in Saluda County. It downed trees
and powerlines, damaged a couple of home
and destroyed a barn about five miles from the
town of Saluda. The path of the storm was estimated to
be 60 to 70 yards.
Carlene Ridge was shaken up after seeing the tornado
touchdown, "It was black. It was just really dark,
really scary. It looked like a vacuum like the clouds
were turning."
About 50 people near the Tugalo River had to be
ferried out Friday after rising water washed over a road
which was the only way to get to their homes. Two
tractor trailer rigs flipped on their sides in Chester
County on Friday morning.
Duke Power spokesman Tom Williams says at least
23,000 people were without power as winds of 90 miles
blew threw.
Ivan
came ashore early Thursday as a Category 3 with 130
miles an hour winds but began weakening over land. It
had weakened to 75 miles an hour by mid-morning. Rain
from Ivan reached the Midlands early Thursday
morning.
Much of South Carolina already is soaked from what
was left of Hurricane Frances last week. Emergency
officials worry it won't take much to push rivers out of
their banks and pull trees from the moist soil.
While people in the western part of the state deal
with Ivan, residents along the coast are looking out
into the Atlantic at Tropical Depression
Jeanne .
Updated 10:14pm by Chris Rees
with AP