Hundreds of storm reports, historic tides. Here’s the total impact on SC from Idalia

Nearly two months since Tropical Storm Idalia chugged along South Carolina’s coast, the National Weather Service published a review of the storm’s impact to the Palmetto State.

On Aug. 30, Idalia swirled from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane, weakening as it moved up through southeast Georgia and reached southeast South Carolina as a tropical storm. It then exited into the Atlantic, south of Myrtle Beach.

Idalia brought tropical storm-force winds and heavy rains to the state, causing damaging flooding, storm surge and a few tornadoes. It forced the closure of schools and businesses, and set off a chain reaction of cities and towns issuing state of emergency declarations. Over 350 incident reports from Idalia were called in between southeast Georgia and South Carolina, detailing downed power lines, hour-by-hour rain counts, whipping winds, felled trees and impassable roads.

Idalia’s greatest weapon was storm surge. Coinciding with a rare supermoon, the evening’s high tide was already set to be higher-than-normal. In the Lowcountry, many tide gauge locations showed 2-3 feet of inundation.

The Charleston Harbor gauge clocked nearly 3.5 feet of inundation, with the total tide at 9.23 feet. According to the NWS, it’s the fifth-highest value on record dating back over 100 years.

Storm surge flooding flowed into the Gay Fish Company on St. Helena Island and in Geechie Seafood in Mount Pleasant. Water that covered roads and parking lots in Folly Beach, Seabrook Island and McClellanville was so deep in some areas, that demarcation lines blurred and road access was cut off. In Downtown Charleston, flooding rose above car tires and washed crashed over the High Battery sea wall.

While Georgia got the bulk of river flooding, the Edisto River near Givhans Ferry peaked at over 14 feet.

The storm chewed away at the state’s coastline. Dunes on the Isle of Palms, Hunting Island, and Edisto and Folly beaches were eroded by several feet in some places. Strong waves breached the dunes at Edisto Beach, causing water to surge onto Palmetto Boulevard. On Hunting Island, its south beach lost between 5 and 7 feet of dune.

Tropical storm force winds ripped through the coast, downing trees and power lines. Beaufort recording the fastest wind speed at 66 mph, according to reports uploaded by the NWS. Mount Pleasant, and Daniel and Hilton Head islands registered the lowest wind speed at 30 mph.

Four confirmed tornadoes touched down, with three falling under the EF-0 rating. The other tornado, in Berkeley County south of Eccles Church Road, over Muddy Creek, caused EF-1 damage. The Berkeley County twister snapped and uprooted several large hard and softwood trees, the NWS said. The EF Scale is used to assign a tornado a ‘rating’ based on estimated wind speeds and related damage

There is still a little over a month left of Atlantic hurricane season. If another storm forms, it would be named Vince.