Florence Weakens But Hits SC As Mammoth, Life-Threatening Storm

Hurricane Florence has been downgraded to a tropical storm but its outside bands began hitting South Carolina as night fell Friday, giving the state a taste of the wallop mammoth system still carries with promises of more — much more — to come. More than 160,000 people in the state had their power knocked out by Friday evening and officials warned of dangerous storm surge and "catastrophic freshwater flooding" in parts of North and South Carolina.

"Life-threatening, catastrophic flash floods and prolonged significant river flooding are likely over portions of the Carolinas and the southern to central Appalachians from western North Carolina into southwest Virginia through early next week, as Florence moves slowly inland," the National Hurricane Center said Friday in an 11 p.m. bulletin.

Florence made landfall as a hurricane Friday morning near Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina and the storm's impacts were felt in South Carolina's eastern counties long before it crossed into the state.

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Florence is forecast to dump heavy rain to the state for days. Florence is huge in size — containing a zone of tropical-storm-force winds nearly 400 miles wide — but it has virtually stalled over the Carolinas, dropping 30 inches of rain in some areas already. Weathermodels.com forecast total rain from Florence will reach 17 trillion gallons. (Hurricane Harvey's total was about 24 trillion gallons over Texas and Louisiana.)

The area north of I-26 is expected to have greater impacts from flooding, the NWS says. Some areas in the northeast part of the state could see 15-25 inches of rain, which would produce flash flooding in low lying areas, an NWS official said in a briefing provided by the South Carolina Emergency Management Division.

Florence will move west into Pee Dee and the Midlands of South Carolina over the weekend while weakening in strength. Tropical storm force wind gusts are expected to extend not only into the Lowcountry but also to parts of the central and eastern Midlands on Saturday and Saturday night, according to the SCEMD briefing.

Much of the state could be impacted by damaging winds, which could bring down trees and cause further significant power outages, according to the NWS.

"It is important not to focus on the exact forecast track of Florence as impacts will extend well away from the center," the NWS said. "The worst conditions are most likely to occur late this afternoon through Saturday night."

In Myrtle Beach, officials said they have begun receiving damage reports before dush Friday and a curfew has been implemented effective 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

"Conditions will start to rapidly deteriorate here as we head into this afternoon in the Myrtle Beach area," the officials said in the SCEMD briefing.

Ahead of the storm, mandatory evacuations were in place for all zones in Horry, Georgetown, Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties. An evacuation order was also in place for Edisto Beach in Colleton county.

Photo: Russ Lewis covers his eyes from a gust of wind and a blast of sand as Hurricane Florence approaches Myrtle Beach, S.C., Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Photo by David Goldman/Associated Press