Open AccessFloodplain Geomorphology and Response to Hurricanes: Lower Pee Dee Basin, South Carolina
Author(s) -
Thomas M. Williams,
Bo Song,
Daniel R. Hitchcock,
Thomas L. O’Halloran
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of south carolina water resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2334-4962
pISSN - 2334-4954
DOI - 10.34068/jscwr.07.06
Subject(s) - overbank , hydrology (agriculture) , wetland , floodplain , flooding (psychology) , storm , flood myth , environmental science , channel (broadcasting) , drainage basin , geology , structural basin , oceanography , geography , geomorphology , fluvial , archaeology , ecology , psychology , geotechnical engineering , cartography , engineering , electrical engineering , psychotherapist , biology
Undeveloped forested wetlands in the valleys of coastal plain rivers can play a large role in storing floodwater and attenuating river flooding. In the lower Pee Dee, Little Pee Dee, and Lynches Rivers, these wetlands played a large role in mitigating downstream flooding following Hurricane Florence. Wetland forest flood mitigation was most effective for large flows in the Great Pee Dee River, where flooding on former river terraces determined the course of overbank flow and the potential storage of floodwaters. Floodwater storage and attenuation of water level were less effective if larger flows were limited to the Little Pee Dee River. Large rains prior to Hurricane Matthew, and to a lesser extent Tropical Storm Bertha, caused the forested wetland to be a source of additional flow, although with little increase in peak stage.