Throughout Monday and Tuesday, heavy rains showered Beaufort County, in some places amounting to 11 inches, and local meteorologists predicted the deluge would continue through Friday morning.
As of Tuesday morning, Tropical Storm Debby had dumped between 10 and 20 inches throughout the state, according to the National Weather Service’s Charleston Office. Through 8 a.m. Friday, local forecasters said Beaufort County could get an additional 6 to 12 inches of rain on top of what had already fallen by early Tuesday.
In the county, the highest rainfall totaled 11.16 inches in Beaufort by 10 a.m. Tuesday, and the lowest amounted to 3.91 inches on Hilton Head Island.
Once the sun rose Tuesday morning, tree damage and localized flooding became clear across the area. A tree in Port Royal uprooted and fell onto a resident’s golf cart. Another large tree pulled from its root system and toppled onto the front yard of a Moss Point home on Hilton Head Island.
Several roads were closed and planes delayed or canceled due to impacts from Debby. Administrative offices for Beaufort County, the towns of Hilton Head Island and Bluffton, and the city of Beaufort were closed Tuesday.
The Alljoy neighborhood in Bluffton had considerable flooding along streets and in residents’ yard. And, along Paris Avenue, the street that runs through the heart of Port Royal’s downtown, water had pooled significantly Tuesday morning.
At noon Tuesday, Tropical Storm Debby was 20 miles south of Savannah and moving at 6 mph. Debby had sustained wind speeds of 40 mph. Once sustained wind speeds drop to 38 mph or less, a named storm becomes a tropical depression.
Local meteorologists said the system would move off the Georgia coast Tuesday afternoon. During an 11:30 a.m. briefing, NWS Charleston Meteorologist Ron Morales said computer models project Debby would slowly move east and then northward, then shift back toward the Charleston County coast Thursday.
If the storm’s center gets far enough out, Morales said it would be problematic, with the potential for the system to restrengthen into a “minimal” hurricane. However, there is still “some uncertainty” in the storm’s path, Morales said.
Beaufort County remained under a flood watch, tropical storm warning and storm surge throughout Tuesday.
The greatest threat for storm surge inundation, between 2 and 4 feet, began Tuesday and will last through Thursday, which could cause flooding of coastal streets and roadways, and minor-to-moderate beach erosion. High tides coinciding with storm surge inundation could cause additional flooding, Morales said.
On Wednesday at 11:37 a.m. in Beaufort, high tide was expected to reach 7.1 feet and 7.5 feet at 11:57 p.m., according to USHarbors. Hilton Head’s 11:24 a.m. high tide was predicted to be 7 feet and its 11:31 p.m. high tide was expected to reach 7.6 feet.
If tropical storm-force winds blow through Beaufort County, they’d be likely to start Wednesday and continue into the evening. Tropical storm wind gusts, between 39 and 57 mph, are possible for the area through Wednesday, the NWS said.
The Lowcountry isn’t “out of the woods yet until this storm passes our latitude,” Morales said at the Tuesday briefing.
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