Small tornadoes sliced through the Charleston peninsula and Awendaw Tuesday
evening as the Lowcountry braced itself against Tropical Storm Alberto.
Tropical storm warnings and flash flood watches were posted from the Midlands
to the coast while rain bands from the first named storm of the season moved
into the state. A tropical storm warning means sustained winds between 39 and 74
mph were expected within one day.
A wind advisory for sustained winds of up to 25 mph for inland areas along
the south coast also was posted.
The roughest weather for the Lowcountry was expected late Tuesday night into
early today, said Paul Yura, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
'During the overnight hours, we'll have a lot of moisture increasing from the
south,' he said. 'And the center of Alberto will be moving across the Savannah
River by early this morning. By that time, we'll still probably have some quite
windy conditions in the very early morning hours.'
Alberto made landfall at 12:33 a.m. Tuesday at Adams Beach on the Florida
Coast with winds between 45 and 50 mph.
Though damage was minimal, the storm pushed floodwaters into low-lying
communities and knocked out power to about 5,000 customers near Tampa and 20,000
in a swath from Hillsborough County north to the panhandle area known as Big
Bend.
By Tuesday morning, the weakening storm began to produce increasing wind,
prodigious rainfall and the report of at least one tornado between Savannah and
Charleston.
Forecasters said the center of circulation would track into South Carolina
from Georgia by today, pushing nasty weather ahead of it.
As of 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, a peak wind gust of 32 mph was reported at the
Charleston Airport.
Forecasters said between 3 and 5 inches of rain could fall in the state with
higher amounts in isolated areas along the coast.
A funnel-shaped cloud struck the parking lot behind the Charleston Police
Department on Lockwood Drive around 6 p.m.
It damaged the rear windows of four police cruisers and a metal roll-up
garage door, said Scott Newsome, the Charleston police fleet commander.
People nearby saw the cloud arch onto land from the Ashley River and pass the
former Charleston Riverview Hotel on Lockwood Drive before swinging through the
police department's rear lot, Newsome said.
'It appeared that there was a dramatic decrease in ambient pressure and the
window exploded out of the rear of the car,' Newsome said, as he surveyed one of
the vehicles.
A tornado also touched down near Awendaw around 8 p.m. knocking down trees.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, a tornado was reported in Beaufort County,
according to the National Weather Service.
By 8 p.m., 2.71 inches of rain had fallen on Hilton Head Island, 1.94 inches
in Beaufort and 1.45 inches at the Charleston International Airport.
Yura expected that rain totalling 3 to 5 inches, increasingly heavy winds as
high as 45 mph, and a 6.2-foot high tide at 10:22 p.m. could create the
potential for coastal flooding through the night and during Charleston's high
tide this morning.
'We'll probably have some significant beach erosion,' he said.
Out on the roads on Tuesday, South Carolina Highway Patrol spokesman Lance
Cpl. Paul Brouthers said that Tuesday produced 'a plethora' of accidents along
Interstate 26 near Dorchester Road while a spinout accident on I-526 backed up
westbound afternoon rush hour traffic from Virginia Avenue almost to Mount
Pleasant. The accidents snarled traffic but produced no major injuries.
In downtown Charleston, police dispatchers reported that flooding on the
Crosstown Expressway had stopped traffic while accidents without injuries along
I-26 at Spruill and Rutledge avenues also brought traffic to a standstill.
The ocean around Folly Beach and the Isle of Palms was a disappointment to
surfers who hoped to catch some big surf with Tuesday morning's high tide.
College of Charleston student Alex Kranc said he caught some fun waves at
Folly's Washout but said he was eagerly anticipating larger waves on today.
'Surfers look forward to hurricane season, because of the waves,' he said.
'But we don't look forward to the destruction.'
According to Mark Malsick, severe weather liaison for the State Climatology
office, Charleston had recorded 12.38 inches of rain as of the end of May.
This was considerably below the average of 16.74 inches for this period. He
added that Columbia and parts of the Upstate were more than 50 percent below
average precipitation.
Thus, several inches of rain expected from Alberto would be more than
welcome.
Reporters Bo Petersen, Jessica VanEgeren and Noah Haglund and The Associated
Press contributed to this report.
Reach Chris Dixon at (843) 745-5855 or cdixon@postandcourier.com
