HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – A Flood Watch is now in effect through Monday morning for most of the Pee Dee and Grand Strand areas. The time frame was extended Friday afternoon.
Periods of widespread, very heavy rain are expected on and off through late Sunday, with expected totals by Sunday in the 5-10” range, according to the StormTracker13 Weather Team.
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A Flash Flood Watch is in effect for some western counties, including: Sumter, Lee, and Clarendon, for widespread 6-9” rain totals through early Monday morning. A few spots may get more than 10” of rain, and some computer models are still predicting 12-15” totals for isolated areas.
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Flooding is expected due to the soil already being saturated as well as high rain rates.
Heavy rain will begin late Friday evening as a front moves slowly onshore and an upper low taps into deep tropical moisture from two sources, namely Gulf of Mexico moisture associated with an upper low, and moisture streaming up from the south from one of the outer bands of Hurricane Joaquin.
While Joaquin will stay well offshore of the Carolinas this weekend, its moisture coming up from the south will help allow the heavy rain to continue through Sunday night, with some areas not clearing until Monday.
