The river flood advisories scrolled across the bottom of the television screen last weekend, prompting fears of catastrophic damage.

But the reality is, South Carolina is set up well to handle river flooding. National and state forest or park lands, private timberland and farms line many of our rivers, serving as depositories for floodwaters.

Residential development along those rivers is rare. Historically, the flood plains have been the land nobody wants. But, with Hurricane Ivan likely to dump more rain on the state and Tropical Storm Jeanne looming right behind, it’s the land everybody needs.

“In general, we have flood release areas along our rivers,” said Bud Badr, chief of hydrology for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. “An excellent demonstration is the Congaree Swamp area in lower Richland County. It was made by nature where, if you receive lots of water, it will minimize damage downstream.”

The Congaree River floods Congaree National Park several times each year, inundating thousands of acres crisscrossed by hiking trails. Many trails were under water last weekend and could be again next week.

National or state forest land serves the same purpose along the Chattooga, the Enoree, the Tyger, the Broad, the Wateree and the Santee rivers. All reached flood stage in the past few weeks with no serious problems reported.

But forecasters fear the flooding from Ivan could be worse than from Frances. Not only is the soil already saturated here, but North Carolina is even wetter. The N.C. lakes won’t be able to hold back rainfall from Ivan. While most of S.C. is expected to get 5 to 6 inches of rain from Ivan, the N.C. mountains could get up to 12.

Many structures built near rivers are set up to handle flooding. In the Sandy Run community, the Congaree River frequently jumps its banks and runs under several homes built on stilts. Bill Minikiewicz, the emergency preparedness director of Calhoun County who lives near those homes, said the people just tie things down and leave. Often, their livestock ambles up to his land during flooding.

Rising rivers seldom catch timber farmers by surprise and cause few problems if the flooding is short-lived, said Bob Scott, director of the S.C. Forestry Association. But long-term flooding caused by this summer’s constant flow of tropical storms limits the land that can be harvested. If Ivan dumps much rain in the state, some pulp mills could be forced to shut down.

Flash flooding is a more troublesome problem than river flooding in S.C. Especially in urban areas, heavy rains during Ivan washed out roads and rushed into buildings.

Venkat Lakshmi, an associate professor of geology at USC, said problems arise whenever humans build drainage systems. Even those built based on historical rainfall peaks usually can’t handle long-lasting events like Frances.

“We are trying to corral nature with an estimation,” Lakshmi said. “Nature doesn’t like to be estimated.”

Unless Ivan goes farther west than expected, flash flooding is likely in urban areas of S.C., especially in the Upstate.

Dams were built on many of the state’s rivers, mainly for hydropower production but with the added benefit of flood control. When homes were built near those lakes, new flood dilemmas arose.

Duke Power did its best managing the bulge of floodwaters through its dams last week, but it couldn’t prevent Lake Wateree from rising into some houses.

Most of the lakes and rivers in the state have dropped below flood levels, but most still are above pre-Frances levels. Hurricane Ivan could dump another 5 to 6 inches or more.

“I’m kind of nervous about more rain hitting the Upstate,” said Suzanne House, whose yard in the Riverland Park subdivision in Cayce remained barely above the Congaree floodwaters last week.

“It looks like we’re lucky (Frances and Ivan) were spaced far enough apart that we can get this water downstream.”

Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366 or jholleman@thestate.com.