In the beginning of October 2015, Hurricane Joaquin, a strong hurricane that didn’t make landfall in South Carolina, passed offshore. It brought heavy rain to the eastern and mid part of the state with Georgetown, SC receiving around 22 inches of rain. Even higher levels of rain fell in the Charleston area. The effects of flooding rivers worsened when rain from the upstate rivers made their way towards the coast causing coastal streams and rivers to overflow. 14 people died and nearly a thousand people were forced from their homes and into shelters. Around 40,000 people were without potable water.
According to Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, the strength of Hurricane Joaquin was related to warming sea surface temperature which allowed the hurricane to grow to a Category 4 hurricane. As ocean surface temperatures rise due to the Earth getting warmer, more intense storms, like Hurricane Joaquin, will become more common. While no storm can be exactly blamed on climate change, an overall pattern of intensifying weather events and increased precipitation are projected as a result of increasing global temperatures. In the next several decades, based on current projections, sea levels will rise and rainfall will increase. It is possible the flooding effects along the South Carolina coast, similar to the “thousand-year storm,” may happen again.
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