Tropical Storm Idalia, downgraded from a hurricane when it slammed into Florida Wednesday morning, brought surging water into parts of Charleston before heading toward North Carolina and out to sea.
Paired with the king tide brought on by a Blue supermoon, the storm brought significant flooding to the peninsula and beyond, breaching the Charleston Battery and dunes on Edisto Island. One downtown resident said water was two feet above street level along South Battery. By morning, cleanup efforts were underway.
Folly Beach residents experienced major winds, huge waves and floodwaters. Shem Creek restaurants saw flooding reach inside businesses and fill parking lots. Schools across the tri-county area adjusted schedules today for e-learning in the aftermath of Idalia.
The brunt of the storm in South Carolina, however, was felt in communities along Interstate 95. Power outages were felt across the Midlands. Orangeburg County saw widespread flooding. A weak tornado flipped a car in Goose Creek. A house lost a roof in Myrtle Beach. All in all, the state generally escaped the worst of Idalia’s wrath and many agree it could have been much worse.
Meanwhile, rescuers in Florida pulled scores of people from flooded homes. Hundreds of thousands of people were without power.
In other news:
CP NEWS: Charleston community business classes now offered in Portuguese. Lowcountry Local First’s (LLF) free community business courses are now taught in English, Spanish and Portuguese, expanding opportunities for Charleston area entrepreneurs.
Charleston area Democrats have a primary Tuesday for state Senate seat. The three progressives vying to represent the overwhelmingly Democratic district – state Reps. Wendell Gilliard, Deon Tedder and J.A. Moore – all have ideas about how to tackle the district’s woes from violence to education and gentrification. But their biggest issue may be voter turnout.
- CP reader alert: Check out our endorsement on Friday.
North Charleston distillery distributes bourbon statewide. In a first,Firefly Distillery has expanded availability of its most premium spirit, Bend & Steal American Whiskey, which can now be purchased at more than 100 retailers throughout the state.
Best Filipino restaurants to try in the Charleston area. Filipino restaurants make up 1% of U.S. restaurants serving Asian food, according to a May analysis by Pew Research Center. But Charleston is just getting acclimated to traditional Filipino dishes like pancit, kare kare, adobo and lumpia.
S.C. judge gives OK to $10.3B forever chemicals settlement. A Charleston federal judge has given preliminary approval to a minimum $10.3 billion settlement 3M Co. has proposed to settle the first phase of litigation over “forever chemicals” that contaminated public water systems.
MURDAUGH: Murdaugh loses prison phone privileges. Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has lost his phone privileges and his prison tablet computer after his lawyer recorded him reading his journal entries on a call for a documentary about his case. Prison policy prohibits inmates from talking to the media without permission.
- To get dozens of South Carolina news stories every business day, contact the folks at SC Clips.
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