Flash Flood Warning for Southwestern Lancaster County, South Carolina

The flash flood warning

The product code is FFWCAE. The sender is the National Weather Service in Columbia, South Carolina. The headline says it was issued October 3 at 10:30 p.m. EDT and lasts until October 4 at 1:30 a.m. EDT.

The warned area is southwestern Lancaster County, in central South Carolina. It is not a warning for the whole state, and it is not automatically a warning for every town in the county.

At 10:30 p.m. EDT, Doppler radar showed thunderstorms producing heavy rain. The warning says up to 4 inches of rain had fallen. It says up to 1 more inch was possible. Flash flooding was ongoing or expected to begin shortly.

The hazard is flash flooding caused by thunderstorms. The source is radar. The impacts named are small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets, underpasses, and other poor-drainage and low-lying areas.

Towns the warning names

The warning says some locations that will experience flash flooding include Elgin, Heath Springs, McDonald Green Elementary School, Faith Christian School, Pleasant Hill, and Bell Town Fire Station.

Those names are the bulletin’s list. They are landmarks inside southwestern Lancaster County. If you live nearby and your road is not printed, you can still be inside the polygon. Use the warning area, not only the school names, to decide.

The instruction from the office: be especially careful at night, when flood danger is harder to see. Be aware of your surroundings. Do not drive on flooded roads. If you can report flooding safely, the office says you can reach NWS Columbia on Facebook or X at NWSColumbia, or by email at NWS.Columbia@noaa.gov.

A different flood advisory covers other ground

At 10:59 p.m. EDT the same office issued a Flood Advisory until 2:00 a.m. EDT. That advisory covers northwestern Chesterfield County and southeastern Lancaster County. It is a different piece of the map from the southwestern Lancaster warning.

The advisory says minor flooding in low-lying and poor-drainage areas. Radar and rain gauges at 10:59 p.m. showed up to 3.5 inches down, with up to 1 more inch expected. Places named on the advisory include Jefferson, Forty Acre Rock Preserve, and Kershaw Correctional Institution.

An advisory is a lower step than a warning, and these two products do not cover the same slice of Lancaster County. Southwestern county: the Flash Flood Warning until 1:30 a.m. EDT. Southeastern county, plus part of Chesterfield: the Flood Advisory until 2:00 a.m. EDT. Recheck both before you assume one cancellation cleared the other.

What to do

Do not drive through water. Most flooding deaths are in vehicles. Barricades are there because the road is gone or the water is moving. Go another way.

At night, a dip in the road can look like a puddle and be a creek. If you cannot see the painted lines, do not enter it.

People in Elgin, Heath Springs, and the rest of southwestern Lancaster County should stay off small bridges and low water crossings until the warning is over. The clock on this warning is 1:30 a.m. EDT Sunday unless the Weather Service changes it.

Call 911 if you are trapped by rising water. Notice Nearby cannot send a rescue.

Source

National Weather Service Columbia, Flash Flood Warning FFWCAE, issued 10:30 p.m. EDT Oct. 3, 2026, until 1:30 a.m. EDT Oct. 4, 2026, for southwestern Lancaster County. Active-alert feed: https://api.weather.gov/alerts/active?area=SC.

Flood Advisory from the same office, 10:59 p.m. EDT until 2:00 a.m. EDT, for northwestern Chesterfield County and southeastern Lancaster County. Safety page: https://www.weather.gov/safety/flood.

County hub: https://noticenearby.com/sc/lancaster. Notice Nearby is not the National Weather Service.

Notes and sources

1. Source: NWS Columbia Flash Flood Warning FFWCAE and the separate Flood Advisory, active-alert feed on the night of Oct. 3, 2026. If weather.gov updates the clock, weather.gov wins.
2. Author: Ryan Standley / Record of Sale, LLC / Notice Nearby.
3. Not legal advice. Not a newspaper. Not Legal Publication. Record of Sale, LLC (Oregon).