Power out to some, a few trees down 

 

POLK COUNTY—Despite the area receiving more rain in three days than what the area normally receives in the month of June, there were no road closures or flooding.  

Polk County Emergency Management Director and Fire Marshal Bobby Arledge said there were some power outages Saturday after a tree fell on a power line in the Walker Street and Peniel Road area.  

Tryon received 1.88 inches of rain on Friday, 1.5 inches on Saturday and 2.8 inches on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Precipitation for the area is measured at the Tryon Water Plant, off Carolina Drive in Tryon and submitted daily to the NWS.  

The power outage included downtown Columbus for a while Saturday around 5 p.m. when the traffic lights were out and areas around downtown. Power outages also occurred in some areas of Landrum over the weekend.  

Arledge said the weather system is predicted to be cleared out of the area by mid-day Tuesday.  

Tryon normally receives 5.38 inches of rain during the month of June, so the weekend’s 6.18 inches surpassed the normal in the first 9 days of the month.  

So far, June has seen a total of 6.37 inches of rain, as of Sunday, according to the NWS.  

Polk County decided last week to lower the level of Lake Adger by 5 feet in anticipation of the storm system moving into the area. The heavy rains also caused Polk County High School’s graduation ceremony to be moved to the Tryon International Equestrian Center on Friday night instead of the football stadium.  

Polk County was under a flash flood warning over most of the weekend. That warning continued into Monday night, when more heavy rain was expected.  

A tornado touched down in nearby Rutherford County, which was determined to be an F-0 classification and damaged a home.  

The months of May and March were the only months this year that had lower than normal precipitation. The normal is taken from what the area received from the year 1981 through 2010 by the NWS.  

The month of May received 3.84 inches of rain, which was lower than the normal of 4.57 inches. The month of April received 5.36 inches compared to the normal of 4.58 inches; the month of March received 3.46 inches, compared to the normal of 5.76 inches; the month of February received 6.91 inches, compared to the normal of 4.86 inches and the month of January received 5.28 inches, compared to the normal of 5.1 inches, according to NWS data.  

 

Normal rainfall (1981-2010) in inches 

January: 5.10 

February: 4.86 

March: 5.76 

April: 4.58 

May: 4.57 

June: 5.38 

July: 5.27 

August: 6.18 

September: 5.38 

October: 4.65 

November: 4.80 

December: 5.24