Horry County moves to OPCON 1, activates emergency operations center ahead of flooding from Tropical Storm Debby

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Horry County moved to OPCON 1 Thursday morning ahead of anticipated flooding in the aftermath of days of heavy rain from Tropical Storm Debby.

OPCON 1 is the highest level of emergency preparedness and means the county’s emergency operations center has been activated.

Officials are continuing to monitor conditions along the Waccamaw, Great Pee Dee, and Little Pee Dee rivers and the Intracoastal Waterway, and an emergency shelter has been set up at the James R. Frazier Community Center in Bucksport.

Officials met with residents there Wednesday night to hear residents’ concerns and update them on the work being done to curb the threat of flooding .

Although the Bucksport community is experienced in dealing with regular flooding, Horry County Emergency Management Director Sam Hodge said it’s best to be prepared.

“The people that are living in those areas are very familiar with the flooding and have [been] pretty resilient in some of our communities out there,” he said. “The thing about it is, it’s not their first flooding event, but we’re just there to support them and help them in the event it gets any worse. That way, we can get some first responders in there to help get them to a safe shelter.”

County officials said people who have “interests along area rivers and waterways are encouraged to closely monitor water levels.” Water levels and river gauges can be monitored on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website .

As of Thursday afternoon , the News13 weather team said the Pee Dee River was forecast to crest Thursday morning in moderate flood stage at 24.9 feet.

The Waccamaw River was forecast to climb into major flood stage this weekend, cresting at 8 p.m. on Sunday at 14.8 feet. That would be 3 feet below Hurricane Matthew’s crest in 2016 at 17.8 feet, and a little more than 5 feet below Hurricane Florence’s record crest in 2018 at 21.16 feet.

The Waccamaw River flows into the Intracoastal waterway allowing that to rise in the coming days. Estimates from NOAA project that it could get as high as 17 feet by the end of the weekend, which would bring impacts to the Socastee area.

Elsewhere in the region, the Lumber River near Lumberton remained in a moderate flood stage Thursday and and was slowly falling.

The Little Pee Dee River at Galivants Ferry dropped to 12.63 feet and was forecast to slowly recede throughout the week, dropping into moderate flood stage this weekend.

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Dennis Bright is a Digital Producer at News13 . He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook , X, formerly Twitter , and read more of his work here .

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Savannah Denton joined News 13 in July 2023 as a reporter and producer. Savannah is from Atlanta, Georgia, and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Follow Savannah on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here .

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