COLUMBIA, S.C. — “We could hear the wind blowing, and then there was a bunch of hail hitting the windows, I was afraid it was going to break out the windows.”
Mike Oliver says he knew Monday night’s storm was going to cause issues as soon as it started raining in his neighborhood in Chapin.
The storm knocked down dozens of trees across multiple communities just east of Dreher Island State Park even making some roads impassable Tuesday morning.
“We have a Good Samaritan in the neighborhood, he was out at 6:30 this morning chainsaw-ing to open up the streets so if there was an emergency people could get out.”
Tree removal crews, including Joshua Chisolm and his team, were helping with cleanup in the Timberlake Country Club community.
“So far what we have been seeing is a lot of trees over power lines and houses all throughout the neighborhood, just a lot of people without water and power trying to get back to their everyday lives.”
John Quagrialiello with the National Weather Service was with other meteorologists surveying the damage. He says winds were in excess of 70 mph with the storm.
“What we are seeing is a lot of large trees that have been either uprooted or snapped, but all appear to be generally in the same direction which would be a good indication that it was a downburst which produces straight-line winds.”
A downburst is caused when hail and rain that is being suspended in a storm quickly and violently falls back toward the ground. This downward motion creates a strong column of wind that hits the ground and then spreads out.
This type of damage is very common in severe weather especially that occurs in the Summer months here in the Midlands.