A storm that has caused damage across the South reached Columbia on Sunday, bringing gusts up to 74 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. As small branches and debris filled the roads, thousands of houses in Lexington and Richland counties lost power — at around 2:30 p.m., as many as 50,000 were in the dark. SCE&G reported 354 outage-causing incidents, mainly falling tree branches, in the two counties.
Columbia was among the most severely impacted areas of South Carolina. The storm began with a simple lake wind advisory at 12 p.m. Afterward, AccuWeather reported an area flood advisory ending at 2:23 p.m., a tornado watch ending at 7 p.m. and a severe thunderstorm warning ending at 4:30 p.m. While no tornado touched down in the Carolinas, storm damage from wind and branches was widespread across the Midlands.
No major damage occurred on USC's campus, although wind and driving rain brought down branches around the Horseshoe and Thomas Cooper fountain. During the worst of the storm around 2:30 p.m., the university recommended on Twitter that everyone "seek safe shelter immediately."
Lexington County called in the Red Cross to help with the destruction, although no injuries were reported. The county Twitter shared photos of fallen trees, ruined farm structures and damaged houses.
Three deaths has been reported as a result of the storm. A two-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree in Louisiana, and two died in a storm-related car crashes in Nebraska and Wisconsin. Injuries were reported throughout the Midwest, although none have happened in South Carolina.