Roofer in Seabrook Island, SC

Pick Me! SC, the largest annual statewide dog and cat adoption event in the nation, topped 2,500 adoptions, breaking all previous national records. The event, organized by Charleston Animal Society, and powered by Petco Love and BOBS® from Skechers®, brings together 94 shelters, rescue organizations, and Petco pet care centers.

"Shattering this record means more pet lives were saved across every region in our state for the 7th year in a row," said Charleston Animal Society’s Chief Lifesaving Officer Pearl Sutton. "The numbers are still coming in but as of now, shelters are reporting that 2,526 dogs and cats were adopted."

For the first time ever, every county in the state of South Carolina participated.

“This year’s Pick Me! SC was nothing short of phenomenal,” said Petco Love President Susanne Kogut. “As Petco Love celebrates “25 Years of Love”, our 25th anniversary of saving lives, achieving 2,500 adoptions in this event adds a whole lot of love to South Carolina. Breaking our previous record demonstrates the incredible commitment and compassion of South Carolinians. We are overwhelmed with the partnership we received from the Charleston Animal Society, and all shelters, rescue organizations, and Petco pet care centers around the Palmetto State.”

Pick Me! SC is led by No Kill South Carolina 2024, an initiative of Charleston Animal Society, and powered by national nonprofit organization Petco Love. The event provided nearly 800 spay-neuter surgeries the week prior to the adoption event for pets from 11 different counties around South Carolina.

"Pick Me! SC’s remarkable achievement has set a new benchmark for pet adoption events nationwide, especially in rural states," said Charleston Animal Society President and CEO Joe Elmore.

For more information, go to PickMeSC.org.

Tropical Storm Debby continues to wreak havoc on the Southeast coast, dumping more than a foot of rain in some South Carolina locations through Wednesday morning, Aug. 7.

"Heavy rainfall across portions of the Carolinas is expected to persist through Thursday along with areas of considerable flooding," the National Hurricane Center said in an 11 a.m. Aug. 7 statement.

The Hurricane Center said that tropical storm conditions will continue to impact parts of the North Carolina and South Carolina coasts through Thursday, and also that storm surge is likely to result in coastal flooding in those areas.

From USA TODAY:Carolinas bracing for second landfall from Tropical Storm Debby: Live updates

"Debby is expected to produce an additional 3 to 9 inches of rainfall with locally higher amounts, leading to maximum storm total amounts as high as 25 inches in South Carolina and 15 inches in southeast North Carolina, broadening the area of considerable flooding across portions of South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Friday," the Hurricane Center said.

That's bad news for places like Edisto Beach in South Carolina, which had received nearly 14 inches of rain through Wednesday morning.

Rainfall totals so far from Tropical Storm Debby

Here are rainfall totals through Wednesday morning in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia from Debby, as reported by the National Weather Service out of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina.

"The following are unofficial observations taken between 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 5, and 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7," the weather service said. "Appreciation is extended to highway departments, cooperative observers, Skywarn spotters and media for these reports."

The NWS notes that observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying equipment and exposures. Not all data listed is considered official.

NORTH CAROLINA

Bladen County

Brunswick County

Columbus County

New Hanover County

Pender County

Robeson County

SOUTH CAROLINA

Beaufort County

Berkeley County

Charleston County

Colleton County

Darlington County

Dillon County

Dorchester County

Florence County

Georgetown County

Hampton County

Horry County

Jasper County

Marion County

Marlboro County

Williamsburg County

GEORGIA

Bryan County

Bulloch County

Candler County

Chatham County

Effingham County

Evans County

Jenkins County

Liberty County

Long County

McIntosh County

Screven County

Tattnall County

Todd Runkle is the Carolinas Connect editor and also a content coach for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at trunkle@gannett.com.

Tropical Storm Debby has slowed its movement, and that's bad news for eastern South Carolina, which is already seeing heavy rainfall.

In a news release, AccuWeather said: "Debby has slowed to a crawl along the southeast U.S. and is expected to produce up to 2 feet or more of rainfall in parts of Georgia and South Carolina. The AccuWeather Local StormMax is 32 inches near the South Carolina shoreline, where there is the potential for the storm to slow down or stall. Should this occur, flooding could be significant, life-threatening, and historic."

The National Hurricane Center says, "Potentially historic heavy rainfall across eastern South Carolina through Friday will likely result in areas of catastrophic flooding."

Rainfall totals so far from Tropical Storm Debby

Here are two-day rainfall totals in South Carolina and Georgia from Debby, as reported by the National Weather Service out of Charleston at 2:36 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6.

The NWS notes that observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying equipment and exposures. Not all data listed is considered official. Also note that reporting times vary.

More:South Carolina's Red Cross seeks volunteers to assist with Tropical Storm Debby response

South Carolina

Allendale County

Beaufort County

Berkeley County

More:Upstate emergency services prepare to help South Carolina coastal areas affected by Debby

Charleston County

Colleton County

Dorchester County

Hampton County

Jasper County

More:Debby landed as a hurricane and became a tropical storm; here's what makes the difference

Georgia

Bryan County

Bulloch County

Candler County

Chatham County

Effingham County

Evans County

More:Tropical Storm Debby unleashes widespread flooding across Southeast: Live updates

Jenkins County

Liberty County

Long County

McIntosh County

Screven County

Tattnall County

Glennville 8.91 inches 7:30 a.m.

Reidsville 6.08 inches 2 p.m.

Reidsville Airport 4.37 inches 2:15 p.m.

Todd Runkle, Carolinas Connect editor, contributed.

Nina Tran covers trending topics for The Greenville News. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com.

SEABROOK ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A potential short-term rental ordinance on Seabrook Island has some residents signing a petition in hopes the town will decide not to cap the number of short-term rentals.

David Sweet, a Seabrook Island resident, gathered over 500 signatures on a petition for the town not to put a cap on short-term rentals, but the town says the opinions they’ve gathered are already enough.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that caps aren’t needed because the data that the town’s provided to you,” Sweet says. “...Doesn’t bare out the need for caps.”

Sweet says he’s kept his property as a short-term rental since owning it in May 2021. He says that owning comes with a large price tag because it’s mandatory to join the Seabrook Island Club for seven years when first buying property.

Since 2021, the minimum joining fee went from $3,600 to $15,000. The most expensive membership went from $33,000 to $70,000.

Sweet also started a petition to see how many other residents are against any potential cap on STRs.

“What most owners are concerned about is what’s it going to do to property values on the island?” Sweet says. “And what’s it going to do to real estate sales on the island?... Real estate sales help drive that next level of future owners and future club members.”

Darryl May, short-term rental committee chair and town councilperson, says the committee has received over 450 written public comments and about 100 in-person comments.

“No disrespect intended, but I don’t think the petition provides any additional information than what we set out to get and did get ourselves,” May says.

The purpose of this committee is to study short-term rental activities and trends within the town. This could involve limiting the number of short-term rentals, limiting the ownership of multiple short-term rentals, what fees are reasonable, etc.

Seabrook Island is home to 2,345 family homes and villas and 588 of those are short-term rentals, according to the town.

May says, so far, the committee has made mostly unanimous decisions on recommendations they plan to take to council in June. These include setting a noise ordinance at 10 p.m., banning recreational-use drones and enacting a stricter trash removal process for all Seabrook Islanders. Short-term rental owners could see a reduction in occupancy and parking.

He says in the next workshop, they will discuss how they plan to enforce these recommendations. The last two workshops will talk about whether or not they need a short-term rental cap.

“We are not going to do something that we think will deter people from coming here,” May says. “...We want to accommodate everyone but do it in a way that preserves Seabrook’s future growth.

The committee says they plan to bring all recommendations to the town council in June before they make the final call.

Click here for the full schedule of the last short-term rental committee workshops.

Read below for a breakdown of membership fees to the Seabrook Island Club from 2020-2024, or click here.

Seabrook Island Club fees breakdown by Live 5 News on Scribd

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Two boats full of birders floated slowly down the North Edisto River as the sun set and the moon popped up from a hat-shaped cloud. Ahead was Deveaux Bank, a rapidly vanishing island that’s among the most important bird sanctuaries on the East Coast.

The birders were there on this recent April evening to glimpse a migratory wonder, one that South Carolina scientists had only recently discovered: the return of the whimbrels.

Whimbrels are large shorebirds with speckled brown-and-white feathers. They have long curved bills, perfect for feeding on insects and Lowcountry fiddler crabs. They're long-distance fliers, sometimes migrating nonstop from the southern tip of South America to Deveaux Bank.

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Here on this horseshoe-shaped patch of sand, whimbrels roost for a few weeks in mid-spring, resting for their next long flight to the Arctic. In 2009, scientists in Virginia captured a female whimbrel and attached a transmitter. They named the bird Hope and tracked her for three years. Hope flew more than 50,000 miles.

Like many shorebirds, whimbrels are in trouble. Various studies have found their numbers roughly cut in half since the 1990s. Which is why Deveaux Bank has become so precious.

It’s also why Chris Crolley, who runs Coastal Expeditions, wanted to take the birders to this beautiful and disappearing way station.

Whimbrel discovery

The boats left a landing on Wadmalaw Island as the early evening sun cast the marsh in amber. About 75 people were on board, many lugging binoculars and cameras with long lenses. The boats puttered past Rockville, a tiny town on Wadmalaw Island with residents who have long used Deveaux Bank as a place to picnic or fish. “See that,” Crolley suddenly said as the boat moved into the North Edisto River. “Flying across the sun — whimbrels!”

They flew in ragged formation, possibly from nearby marshlands where they had fed.

“They might fly nonstop from Argentina. And when they land here, they’re two things — tired and hungry,” Crolley told the group. “They’ll rest and feed here and become even more beautiful than they were when they arrived.”

To the left, windows on Seabrook Island’s beachside homes reflected the setting sun. To the right, the silhouetted and preserved forests of Botany Bay grew darker. Ahead, at the North Edisto's mouth, was Deveaux Bank, the site of a surprising revelation.

For years, scientists weren’t sure where whimbrels stopped during their epic journeys north. Then, one morning in 2014, Felicia Sanders, a biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, noticed whimbrels leaving Deveaux Bank. Did some whimbrels use Deveaux as their secret way station?

Over time, she and her colleagues gathered more data, and on a full moon night in 2019, they did a comprehensive tally: More than 20,000 whimbrels were on Deveaux, about half the known Atlantic population. They'd been hiding in plain sight. After the count, John Fitzpatrick of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, told The New York Times it “was one of the most mind-blowing discoveries in the history of 20th- and 21st-century ornithology.”

At that time, Deveaux Bank was more than 200 acres.

But as the boats closed in on this late April evening, it soon became clear that much of the whimbrels’ rest stop was under water. "What's left? Maybe 10 or 15 acres." Crolley guessed.

The reasons for Deveaux's disappearing act are many: the natural flux of sandbars at a river inlet; brutal storms, including Hurricane Idalia and last December’s nor’easter; rising tides from a rapidly warming planet.

Add these natural and climate change factors to increasing coastal development, and you have what Crolley called the "coastal squeeze.”

Which is why he and other conservationists are frustrated and angry that the state Department of Natural Resources has declined to close what’s left of Deveaux Bank.

Other coastal shorebird sanctuaries, including Charleston’s Crab Bank, are off limits during nesting season.

“Why isn’t Deveaux?” Crolley asked the group.

Other SC bird sanctuaries are closed

Part of the answer was back on shore in Rockville.

The town’s mayor, Riley Bradham, said Deveaux has long been a favored fishing and beachcombing spot. Access to Deveaux is part of Wadmalaw’s cultural heritage, he said, adding that he and residents also are acutely aware that people can harm birds merely by their presence. Getting too close can create “flares,” disturbances that cause birds to flee their nests. This opens them to predatory gulls or the sun’s heat, which can cook eggs or newly hatched chicks in minutes. “It’s a balancing act,” he said of DNR’s management.

Part of the answer is even farther inland, in DNR’s offices, where staff “try to do what’s best for the birds, while trying to balance that with public use and enjoyment of the area,” said Emily Cope, deputy director of wildlife and freshwater fisheries.

Still, when asked for specific metrics used to balance these interests, the agency had trouble coming up with them. How much high ground is left on Deveaux? The agency's latest calculation was made eight months ago after Hurricane Idalia spun past the coast and left behind just 22 acres of high ground.

At the same time, officials are clearer about the sanctuary’s importance, noting how last year Deveaux Bank hosted more than 3,000 pelican nests, roughly three-quarters of the state’s nesting pelican population and the largest colony on the Atlantic coast. They noted how in recent weeks they'd seen terns and black skimmers flying low over the island, scouting for stretches of sand to nest.

And, they said that so much of Deveaux is under water from mid tide to high tide that the agency can't post off-limits signs in some areas. Instead, the agency is depending on people to abide by what's in a new map.

The map shows what's open — the bank’s southern corner — and what's closed. Dogs aren’t allowed no matter where you go, and violators can be fined $465.

To some conservationists, the agency’s actions seem like futile contortions.

Dana Beach, a longtime conservationist, said he remembered the island once had trees. Not anymore. “When Deveaux was larger, opening it had an impact on the shorebirds, but it wasn’t an existential impact. So DNR’s attitude now is bizarre and mostly inexplicable.”

Riley Egger of the Coastal Conservation League said that last week she saw more than 3,000 red knots in the area, and that later she saw four boats anchored in the same spot. "Shorebirds are declining faster than any other group of birds partly because humans increasingly use their habitats," she said. "Deveaux Bank is a site of international importance."

Back on the boat, Crolley rattled off the names of the state’s shorebird sanctuaries: Tomkins Island toward Savannah, Deveaux Bank, Bird Key Stono and Charleston Harbor’s Crab Bank.

“They’re all protected, except Deveaux.” He pointed toward Rockville. “Because someone over there thinks it's a good fishing spot.”

Seeing the whimbrels

Conservationists say Deveaux Bank is so important the state should even consider renourishing it, as it did with Crab Bank — an idea that DNR also has resisted.

Local groups are seeking a grant to study sand transport around Deveaux. They asked for DNR's comments. In response, the agency said it doesn’t support renourishing. “Deveaux is naturally dynamic and erodes and rebuilds," the agency said in a document obtained by The Post and Courier. “… Artificially placed sand would not stay put for long thus renourishing is not worth the effort and funds.”

State Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms, said he’s long known about the importance of protecting Deveaux, and that a renourishment project shouldn’t be ruled out. He’d fought for more enforcement of existing closure rules in the past, especially during the pandemic, when more people seemed to treat the island as just another beach spot. “We had folks who weren’t respectful of the boundaries,” he said. Given its diminished size, “should it be totally closed now? I think we should take a hard look at that.”

On that recent evening trip to Deveaux, the sun set as Crolley slowed near the southwestern tip, the spot where people can legally land their boats and walk around.

The moon was higher now. In the twilight, the western sky glowed pinkish orange.

The birders hoisted their cameras and pointed them toward the sand and ridge of waist-high dunes. A breeze carried a symphony of squawks and whistles and chirps. The smell of bird dung grew stronger. Birds were everywhere, pelicans crammed into the dunes, black skimmers and whimbrels lifting off like confetti swept by gusts. “They look like bees!” Crolley said. Thousands and thousands of birds. All on this shrinking patch of sand.