The National Weather Service out of Columbia, along with the National Hurricane Center, has issued a Tropical Storm Watch for Clarendon County, along with Chesterfield, Lee and Sumter counties.
As of 11 p.m. Wednesday, Hurricane Florence was about 410 miles east-southeast of Sumter, according to a release from the weather service. The storm was pac king 110 mph winds and was moving northwest at 17 mph.
"The latest forecast brings the center of Florence close to the southeast North Carolina coast on Friday, then Florence is expected to drift slowly southwest to west over the weekend." reads a release from the NWS. "Regardless of the exact path, impacts will extend well away from the center and into central South Carolina and eastern Georgia this weekend. The track could shift slightly farther south and west. The worst conditions across central South Carolina and Eastern Georgia are expected Friday night into at least Sunday, although impacts could linger longer depending on the uncertain evolution and track of Florence beyond this weekend."
The main life-threatening effect in the region may be a prolonged heavy rainfall event with associated flooding through early next week. An extended period of tropical storm force winds is also possible across portions of the area.
