This can't be described as the kind of weather any living South Carolinian has had any kind of experience with. The rain is still pouring down as the flooding increases.
'1,000-year' rain floods South Carolina, and it's not over yet
By Holly Yan and Joe Sutton, CNN
(CNN)This is the kind of deluge that might happen only once every 1,000 years.
South Carolina is grappling with a historic flooding that has led to several deaths, shut down interstates and sent search crews scrambling to rescue those trapped by rising waters.
"This is an incident we've never dealt with before," Gov. Nikki Haley said.
The hardest-hit swath of South Carolina stretches from the capital city of Columbia, right in the middle of the state, all the way to the coast, from Georgetown down to Charleston.
On Sunday, Columbia endured its rainiest day in history Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
"We are at a 1,000-year level of rain," the governor said. "That's how big this is."
It wasn't hyperbole.
A "1,000-year rainfall" means that the amount of rainfall in South Carolina has a 1-in-1,000 chance of happening in any given year, CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward said.
Of course no one is suggesting this disaster is directly due to climate change but it almost certainly is amplifying the intensity of this storm. From two years ago:
Secret climate report calls for action in SC
A team of state scientists has outlined serious concerns about the damage South Carolina will suffer from climate change – threats that include invading eels, dying salt marshes, flooded homes and increased diseases in the state’s wildlife.
By SAMMY FRETWELL
A team of state scientists has outlined serious concerns about the damage South Carolina will suffer from climate change – threats that include invading eels, dying salt marshes, flooded homes and increased diseases in the state’s wildlife.
But few people have seen the team’s study. The findings are outlined in a report on global warming that has been kept secret by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources for more than a year because agency officials say their “priorities have changed.”
DNR board members never put the study out for public review as planned. The State newspaper recently obtained a copy.
Authors of the November 2011 draft said global warming is a reality and the DNR should take a lead role in educating the public about climate change while also increasing scientific research.
The study addresses the politically charged issue of global warming in one of the nation’s most conservative states. One scientist involved in the study said the group that wrote the report realized global warming is more than a scientific issue to some people.
The DNR’s draft study says that, with temperatures in the South projected to rise up to 9 degrees over the next 70 years, the Palmetto State should prepare for increases in wildlife disease, loss of prime duck hunting habitat and the potential invasion of non-native species such as piranha and Asian swamp eels.