Gaston Damages!!

I got this from http://www.charleston.net but thought you all would like to know what happened from Tropical Storm Gaston!!

here is the interesting article!

Most damage, flooding east of Cooper
BY BRIAN HICKS AND ADAM FERRELL
Of The Post and Courier Staff

Under the cloak of darkness Sunday morning, Tropical Storm Gaston took aim at Charleston and struck its target.

It was the area's first direct hit in years.

Gaston surprised many locals, who began their weekend with vague notions that a tropical depression was lingering offshore. That sounded more like a vacationer's malady than something to batten down the hatches for, so few took it seriously.

Things changed quickly. Gaston grew into a strong tropical storm midday Saturday and flirted with hurricane designation as strong gusts, some registering 70 mph, hammered barrier islands at dawn Sunday.

The storm dumped record rainfall on an already saturated Charleston, nearly doubling the previous record rainfall for the date downtown.

"We can still consider ourselves lucky," Paul Yura, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said. "We've been brushed by other storms; we got battered on this one. We had sustained winds between 45 and 55 mph for hours. Our radar showed 8-12 inches of rain in Mount Pleasant."

Many Lowcountry residents awoke without power Sunday, an announcement that hurricane season is in full swing. While parts of West Ashley went dark and roads were blocked, the worst was east of the Cooper.

In all, more than 172,000 homes were without power at one point.

In McClellanville, the shrimpers recalled Hugo. A wall of water surged up Jeremy Creek as shrimp boat captains revved their engines to keep their trawlers from hitting the dock. Richard Billington, captain of the Miss Henrietta, said the water on the docks at Carolina Seafood got waist high at one point.

After the storm, he chose to look at the sunny side.

"Maybe we can catch shrimp because of this," he said.

McClellanville Mayor Rutledge Leland saw the roof ripped off his seafood company -- one of the few buildings that had successfully withstood Hugo 15 years ago. The storm, Leland said, caught the Lowcountry by surprise.

"I didn't think it would be anything like this," Leland said.

Neither did anyone else.

STORM STORIES

Tom and Joanne Leonard awoke at 3 a.m. Sunday on Folly Beach. The noise of howling wind and crashing waves overcame sleep. What really scared them, though, was in the kitchen.

"The coffee in the pot was swaying back and forth, Joanne Leonard said, an ominous indicator of how bad the house was shaking.

Gaston had arrived.

An hour later, Valerie Morton was startled awake on James Island. She thought a bomb had gone off, which was particularly unnerving since her husband, Joseph, is in Iraq in the military.

"I thought I was dreaming," Morton said. "I looked outside and didn't see anything because of the rain, so I went back to bed."

A steady drip kept her awake, and when she investigated, she found the large oak tree that had been in her front yard was now sticking through her roof.

"I wasn't worried at first. I thought it was just going to be a tropical storm," Morton said. "This came out of nowhere and snuck up on me."

Gaston eased ashore along the southern edge of Charleston, sparing Colleton County the worst. Few, if any, residents in Colleton lost power and the sheriff's office received no reports of damage.

The damage became more severe as the storm edged ashore north of the Charleston peninsula. With the ground already softened by a recent spate of hard rain, it took Gaston little time to uproot hundreds of trees.

Along S.C. Highway 41, rows of pine trees were held off the road by sagging power lines, garage doors buckled in Rivertowne, and the landscaping at Pinckney Elementary and Cario Middle School looked like Bill Murray of "Caddyshack" had been hunting gophers on campus.

In the Commonwealth subdivision, Glenn Elliott watched the storm from his sunroom. He was walking back inside when a tree fell on the room, striking the frame of his French doors and pinning Elliot.

Mount Pleasant Fire Chief Steve Mims had rescuers pull Elliott out. They took him to East Cooper Hospital, where he was treated for back injuries.

As bad as the wind was, the flooding in Mount Pleasant was worse. A rain gauge at the Mount Pleasant Public Services facility on Six Mile Road recorded 10.5 inches of rainfall between midnight and noon Sunday. Shem Creek nearly overflowed Bowman Road in places.

"We've got places that flooded that have never flooded," said town administrator Mac Burdette. "I can't recall in 19 years this much water."

At Cooper Hall retirement home, flooding in the parking lot and lobby forced the evacuation of about 60 residents. John Swanson, general manager, said they were hauled out of the flood zone on charter buses, most of them to hotels in Beaufort.

While most shelters closed Sunday, nearly 80 people remained in American Red Cross emergency shelters at Cainhoy Elementary and Berkeley Intermediate schools. Many were forced from their homes by flooding.

"These are folks that have exhausted their resources," Red Cross spokesman Bob Jones said.

HEADS UP

The effects of Gaston will linger for days. Charleston and Berkeley county schools are closed today, as is Trident Technical College. Power crews will work to restore power to thousands in Berkeley, Dorchester and Charleston counties.

Mount Pleasant workers today will continue surveying the damage, which Burdette says could cost about $1 million to clean up -- about two-thirds the cost of Hurricane Floyd's cleaning bill.

This one, however, isn't over. With high tides peaking this week, covering the already inundated land, flood conditions could persist.

Meteorologists fear the Lowcountry hasn't come close to its last brush with hurricane season.

"We'd like to see it a little less busy," Yura said. "This is a little unnerving. The height of the season doesn't even kick in until mid-September. People can't say they aren't expecting this."

Right now, another tropical depression churns in the Atlantic, much as Gaston did, and Hurricane Frances is barreling through the Caribbean, a Category 4 storm with the potential to be Category 5 by the time it reaches the East Coast this weekend.

Gaston may ultimately prove useful as a cautionary reminder for Lowcountry residents, who have sidestepped disaster for so long since weathering Hugo's wrath. This little tropical storm has convinced many residents to take the season seriously.

"With the damage here now, if (Frances) comes, I won't be here," Morton said.

With a feeling that the Lowcountry's good fortune may have run its course, many folks today will cast a weary eye toward the sea, worried about Frances or whatever the season brings in next.

Charleston's only solace is that this one's not named Francois.

STORM DAMAGE

WEST ASHLEY

-- James Island: Power lines and trees down. Several roads closed by fallen trees. Some structural damage.

-- Johns Island: Tree limbs down, closing some roads. Power outages throughout the area.

-- Folly Beach: Power lines down. Fallen trees cleaned up by midafternoon.

PENINSULAR CHARLESTON

Flooding downtown. Extensive power outages. Numerous trees down. Some damage to homes and businesses.

EAST OF THE COOPER

-- Awendaw: About one-third of the homes had roof or siding damage. Many trees down, blocking roads.

--Isle of Palms: Trees down, some flooding and power outages.

-- McClellanville: Trees leaning on power lines on U.S. Highway 17, causing power outages. Some roads flooded or blocked by trees.

-- Mount Pleasant: Numerous trees down, widespread power outages. S.C. Highway 41 closed with 6-12 inches of water over the road.

NORTH CHARLESTON

Power poles and lines down in several locations. McMillan Street access to the Naval Shipyard impassable. Railroad signal arms bent on Ladson Road.

DORCHESTER COUNTY

Nine thousand without power in Summerville. Downed trees throughout the area.

BERKELEY COUNTY

Forty thousand without power. Stations set up to provide water to those with wells. Severe flooding in Bonneau. Downed trees throughout the area.

COLLETON COUNTY

No damage reported.

SCHOOL CLOSINGS TODAY

Charleston County closed.

Berkeley County closed.

Colleton County, Dorchester Districts 2 and 4 open as usual.

Trident Technical College and Charleston Southern will be closed.

College of Charleston and The Citadel will be open.

SURPRISE STORM

SATURDAY, 11 A.M. -- The National Weather Service upgrades tropical depression No. 7 to Tropical Storm Gaston. It is 130 miles southeast of Charleston, gathering strength in the Gulf Stream.

SATURDAY, 8 P.M. -- Charleston County's Emergency Operations Center is activated. Residents in low-lying areas, barrier islands and mobile homes are asked to voluntarily evacuate. Swing and drawbridges are locked in place.

SATURDAY, 8:30 P.M. -- The National Weather Service issues a hurricane warning for the entire coast of South Carolina. Across the Lowcountry, the wind picks up.

SATURDAY, 9 P.M. -- Charleston County opens Burns Elementary and R.D. Schroeder Middle School as shelters. Fifteen special needs cases arrive at Burns.

SUNDAY, 5:20 A.M. -- The outer bands of Gaston arrive. Officials restrict traffic on the Cooper River, McKinley Washington, Don Holt and Wando bridges on I-526. Within two hours, the bridges are closed, along with the James Island and Isle of Palms connectors, the Stono River and Ashley River bridges.

SUNDAY, 6:55 A.M. -- SCE&G reports its first power outages on James Island. Ultimately, more than 172,000 people lose power.

SUNDAY, 7 A.M. -- Tree limbs block River and Bohicket roads on Johns Island. Public works crews struggle to keep up as the storm with sustained winds of more than 50 mph continues to topple power lines and trees.

SUNDAY, 7:50 A.M. -- Charleston International Airport grounds all flights.

SUNDAY, 8:15 A.M. -- The National Weather Service reports gusts of 70 mph in Charleston County. The EOC goes to high alert.

SUNDAY, 9:30 A.M. -- Waves wash over the docks of Carolina Seafood on Jeremy Creek in McClellanville. Shrimpers keep their engines in gear to keep the incoming tide from smashing their boats into the docks.

SUNDAY, 10 A.M. -- The James Island Fire Department takes its emergency vehicles off the road.

SUNDAY, 10:20 A.M. -- The shelter at Burns Elementary loses power. Officials switch to a generator.

SUNDAY, 11 A.M. -- Gaston's eye is over Bull's Bay and the worst is behind Charleston County. Some areas of Mount Pleasant receive up to 12 inches of rain in 11 hours. Lowcountry officials report the worst storm damage the area has seen in years.

Thanks to:
The Post and Courier