|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Web posted Tuesday,
September 7, 2004
|
 |
Tom Wainwright
of Charlotte takes advantage of a deserted
Coligny Beach on Labor Day to search the sand
with his metal detector. Severe weather all day
Monday kept many residents and visitors off
Hilton Head Island's beaches.
Pete Marovich/Carolina
Morning News
R.B. Falin of
Kingsport, Tenn., braces against gusting winds
along Hilton Head Island's Coligny Beach on
Monday. High winds, driving rains and reports of
tornadoes kept many visitors and residents
indoors on Labor Day.
Pete Marovich/Carolina
Morning News
| Severe
weather shocks Lowcountry
BLUFFTON: Labor Day festivities washed
away by long reach of Frances.
By Mark Kreuzwieser
Carolina Morning News
Bursts
of torrential rain, blustery winds, a rough ocean
surf and reports of tornado touch downs ruined
Labor Day festivities for most Lowcountry visitors
and residents.
The National Weather Service
in Charleston received a call from a person
reporting a tornado near Ridgeland shortly before
3 p.m. Monday, but by late afternoon the sighting
had not been confirmed.
Unless a tornado is
captured on Doppler radar or causes damage, the
weather service usually will not confirm the
event.
Another unconfirmed sighting near
Bluffton came into the weather service about 20
minutes earlier. Town fire officials had not
received the report, however, and there was no
reported damage.
Much of the severe weather
moved east-to-west from the Atlantic Ocean, across
Hilton Head Island and into south-central Jasper
County, including the communities of Old House on
S.C. 462, Grahamville on S.C. 336 and Switzerland
on U.S. 17.
The sudden, powerful winds were
caused by "wraparound cells" spinning off Tropical
Storm Frances, said Steve Malphrus, deputy
director of Jasper County Emergency
Management.
The small but powerful squalls
caused a tree to fall on a house on Old Bailey
Loop in the Chelsea community off S.C. 170 in
Jasper County. No one was injured, Malphrus
said.
The National Weather Service in
Charleston issued a tornado warning for Jasper and
Beaufort counties from mid-morning through 3:30
p.m. on Monday.
A tornado watch remained in
effect for southeast South Carolina until 8 p.m.
Monday.
As of Monday evening, a flood watch
was in effect for Beaufort and Jasper counties
until 6 p.m. today.
The weather service
calculated that nearly 1.6 inches of rain had
fallen in Beaufort County between 5 a.m. Sunday
and 3 p.m. Monday.
Frances also brought
high surf and flooding advisories throughout
Monday, and officials said few people braved the
nasty weather on beaches and local
waterways.
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office
deputies early Monday afternoon were called to
reports of a missing person from a boat in Village
Creek off Old Church Road, St. Helena
Island.
A sheriff's spokesman confirmed the
search for a person from a boat that had either
sunk or overturned during squally weather about 2
p.m., but a missing person report had not been
officially filed by early
evening.
Meanwhile, South Carolina Electric
& Gas Co. was planning to send crews to
support Florida utilities trying to restore power
to the approximately 5 million Floridians left in
the dark by Frances.
A total of 130
SCE&G workers were scheduled to leave Columbia
and Ridgeland at 6 a.m. today for the Tampa area,
company spokesman Robin Montgomery said
Monday.
Charles White, SCE&G's
emergency response coordinator, said in a
statement Monday that Florida utilities "have been
working long hours and could use additional
assistance. I think you'll see utilities from
around the Southeast rallying around Florida to
help them in their restoration
efforts."
Montgomery said the crews will
work with an eye on Ivan, another Atlantic storm
headed for the Caribbean.
"If Ivan starts
our way, we'll have our crews turn around and come
back to South Carolina," he said.
Today,
weather forecasters are calling for continued
showers and thunderstorms, with southeast winds of
15 to 25 mph. Tonight should bring partly cloudy
skies with a lesser chance of rain and
thunderstorms and winds of 15 to 20 mph from the
south.
Reporter Mark Kreuzwieser can be
reached at 726-6161 and
mark.kreuzwieser@lowcountrynow.com
| | | |
|
.gif){kind=spacer}
.gif){kind=spacer}