Barnwell County was little worse for the wear from heavy rainfalls and gusting winds that swept through the area the evening of Jan. 24.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch at 5:20 p.m., Jan. 24 effective for Barnwell County and 20 other South Carolina counties until 1 a.m., Jan. 25.

The worst reported incident in Barnwell County was an electrical transformer blowing at the vacant Milliken plant in Barnwell. Jackson Street and the Circle downtown also lost power for about an hour, said John Zawacki, the Barnwell city administrator.

Electricity was also briefly lost to the traffic signals on Dunbarton Boulevard near the Circle but police units were stationed to prevent accidents.

A power line was knocked down by a falling limb on Jackson Street near Annette's Fashions store during the Sunday evening, said Barnwell Fire Chief Tony Dicks.

Elsewhere in the county, no reports of any serious damage from the storm were noted, said Roger Riley, the Barnwell County Emergency Management director.

Riley only heard of a few trees falling across roadways ans some scattered electrical outages, he said.

A tornado watch means that the conditions are right for the creation of a tornado within a specified period of time.

A tornado warning means that a tornado has been sighted or expected soon.