A wetter-than-normal winter and two days of significant rainfall helped spike river and lake levels Friday, forcing the posting of flood warnings and monitoring of dams in some portions of The T&D Region.

The Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities reported Edisto River levels at 156.3 feet above mean sea level Friday afternoon following two-day rainfall totals of .85 of an inch.

The river level remained below the flood stage of 158 feet and was not expected to crest.

Current levels are a far cry from the summer. In August, the river bottomed out at 80-year lows of 151.8 feet.

A flood warning, however, was issued for the Edisto's South Fork branch near Givhans Ferry in Dorchester County. The river reached flood stage Friday morning and is expected to reach its maximum stage by Wednesday of next week.

Access roads to camp sites in Givhans Ferry State Park are expected to flood.

The National Weather Service also issued flood warnings Friday morning for the Congaree River near Sandy Run.

At 11 a.m. the water level was 22.8 feet, just under the flood stage level of 23 feet. The river was expected to crest at 25.6 feet at 1 a.m. Saturday. When the river nears 26 feet, experts say, farmland from Sandy Run to St. Matthews become susceptible to flooding.

At Carolina Eastman, the Congaree crested to 121.8 feet above the flood stage of 115 feet. Forecasts call for the river to recede to 121 feet this afternoon.

Orangeburg County Emergency Services Director John Smith said there were no reports of flooding in the county, though, the situation was and continues to be monitored.

Individuals owning dams are asked to keep tabs on their respective locations.

"It is their responsibility to check run-arounds and spillways that they are working correctly," Smith said. "They are encouraged to report any problems as soon as possible."

Rains propelled an event of historic proportions as well.

Santee Cooper opened its floodgates Friday for the first time since January 1998, spilling 75,000 gallons of water per second into the Santee River.

The state-owned utility alerted property owners and residents in the flood plain of the rising waters prior to the release. The release was to affect land in Clarendon, Williamsburg, Berkeley and Georgetown counties, Santee Cooper spokesman Willard Strong said for routine flood control, the utility raises six to nine floodgates in its massive 62-gate system.

"We never like to spill water," he said. "We need that water to generate electricity and to keep the lake levels up."

Company officials have consistently claimed that spilling operations are contingent on Mother Nature. The five-year drought has not necessitated the spill.

Lake Marion was 76.06 feet above sea level Friday or 1.12 feet above average. Inflows were 30,848 cubic feet per second or above the average 26,471 cfs seen for this time of year.

"We are finally getting these late winter rains that we normally see in our watershed," Strong said. "We are finally back into our normal pattern."

For much of the past five years, South Carolina had been in various stages of a drought, but tropical weather in the summer and wetter-than-usual weather in the fall effectively put an end to the dry spell.

Rainfall totals from Thursday ranged from less than half an inch along the coast to 2.3 inches in Greenwood on the western edge of the state. Upstate areas around Greenville and the Columbia-area Midlands reported more than an inch of rainfall.

Isolated reports of flooding included Laurens County, where several rivers spilled their banks Thursday but no one was forced to leave home, said Larry Hall of Laurens County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management.

One county road had about 3 inches of water over it but was never closed, he said.

In Florence County, emergency officials were monitoring Black Creek, which was expected to crest this weekend, said Kristy Hughes, natural hazards coordinator for the county Emergency Management office.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by calling 803-533-5551. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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