Scattered flooding reported following afternoon storms

Scattered flooding across Beaufort County slowed traffic, blocked roads and gave parents of students at one school a scare following an afternoon rain storm.

Beaufort County School District spokesman Jim Foster said a bus from H.E. McCracken Middle School carrying 15 children hydroplaned off May River Road across from Cahill’s Market. No injuries were reported. Another bus was sent to pick the students up, he said.

Red Cedar Elementary had to dismiss on a side street because its parking lot was flooded. That dismissal went smoothly, Foster said. Parents were informed via social media.

At Bluffton Elementary, dismissal was delayed for a few minutes because of flooding on nearby streets. That, too, went smoothly, Foster said.

The state Department of Transportation was looking into reports of a downed tree on Seaside Road at Carolina Causeway on St. Helena Island. Flooding was reported in Beaufort at 1808 Boundary St. High water was also reported on the south end of North Royal Oaks Drive in Beaufort, according to homeowner Tom Lane.

“It’s still pouring down rain,” Lane said about 5:35 p.m. “Water is in our yard. The street is under water, and water is creeping toward a neighbor’s house.”

At Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, 0.77 inches was reported as of 5 p.m.

The on-ramp from S.C. 170 to U.S. 278 in Okatie was closed for approximately two hours because of standing water.

The ramp was closed around 2:15 p.m. It was open again by about 4 p.m., according to Buddy Gilbert of Beaufort County Traffic Management Center.

Blair Holloway, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, said the heaviest rain fell in the Prichardville area, where 6.75 inches of rain fell.

An observer 3 miles northwest of the Hilton Head Island Airport reported 6.27 inches, Holloway said.

Approximately 4.09 inches of rain fell in the Rose Hill area.

The heaviest rain fell in a narrow corridor running west to east from Prichardville to the northern edge of Hilton Head Island and over to Fripp and Hunting islands.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Scattered flooding reported following afternoon storms."