Two hours after a tornado warning for Clinton elapsed (Feb. 6), more rain moved in on Thursday afternoon, flooding yards and streets - in front of Pinehaven Park, Lake Rd. and Little River are pictured. High winds hit the Hwy 72 - I-26 “gateway” to Clinton, bending the Zaxby’s chicken weather vane, but causing no apparent, serious damage. Also, there was abundant lightning in the area; at the height of the storm, the "take cover now" siren sounded three times in uptown Clinton and Laurens County was under a tornado warning. District 56 cancelled all after-school activities, and for a while, students “sheltered in place” Thursday afternoon. Red Devil varsity basketball, scheduled for a rare Thursday night event, played Friday evening at home; JV games with Emerald will not be made up. Ribbon-cutting for the new Summit Charter School, in Clinton, was postponed from Thursday to Friday afternoon. The Clinton area was under a flooding warning until 7 p.m. Thursday, while the forecast called for more rain Saturday through Thursday. Flooded roads caused District 56 to delay school 2 hours on Friday. By the time it was over, Lake Road, in the Renno Community, east of Clinton; the Lydia Mill Community in Clinton, and Warrior Creek Road were flooded Feb. 6 by heavy rains that caused creeks to rise over roadways and damaged soil under the roadways. Laurens County had several roads damaged and closed, but not as many as Pickens County which reported 60 roads damaged by flooding. Spartanburg was hit by a tornado that spread damage for 10 miles. THEN SUNDAY, we had a dusting of SNOW!! The Upstate above I-85 had a good bit more white, fluffy stuff.
Area forecast for this week is rain today (Feb. 12) and Thursday, partly sunny Friday and Saturday, and rain again Sunday.
Storm Rips Clinton
City of Clinton electrical crews dealt with scattered power outages Monday (Jan. 13), after a powerful storm ripped through half the city Saturday night.
The tornado alarm sounded about 8:40 p.m. Saturday, and the storm devastated the North Broad - Adair St. areas. A large tree fell, off-road, near Richloom and that caused outages on Monday. MS Bailey Child Development Center was closed because of electricity loss. Crews worked in the rain Monday morning, after a sunny day to work on clean-up Sunday.
“During the height of the outage time we had just over 900 customers without power. By 5 p.m. yesterday (Jan. 12) we had everyone back on that did not require a private election to make repairs prior to us restoring power to their residence,” said Joey Meadors, Director of Utilities and Public Works, via e-mail. Oakdale, Woodland and Hazel Dr. areas were affected by power loss Monday. A telephone pole was cracked on North Sloan St., and a worked with a chainsaw was there Monday morning cleaning away a fallen tree.
All power was restored about 19 hours after the initial outage, at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday. The City thanked Laurens CPW and the City of Union for their assistance. The American Red Cross said it was assisting a Jefferson St. family (2 adults, 2 children) and a Beauregard St. family (2 adults, 1 child) by providing financial assistance for food, clothing, lodging and other essentials, and comfort kits containing personal hygiene items.
The Saturday night storm was part of a larger system that killed 11 people throughout the South. No life-threatening injuries were reported in Clinton.
-- Articles & Photos by Vic MacDonald
