ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — Residents in Orangeburg County are cleaning up after heavy rains caused major flooding. with more than 100 roads closed throughout the county. Residents in North say they’ve never seen anything like this before.
“We never dreamed of this happening at our house, never,” resident Travis Chavis said.
Chavis is one of many residents who experienced heavy flooding at his home after more than 13 inches of rain fell in the northeastern part of Orangeburg County on Wednesday night.
“It busted, there's so much pressure on it, it busted one of our water lines, so not only did we have the rain with the flood, we have a busted water line also going into the water as well,” he said.
Chavis said his family pumped water out of their basement for nearly five hours. Holding back tears, he said they lost irreplaceable mementos.
“It's a lot of sentimental stuff, Christmas stuff, Fall stuff, a lot of stuff that our kids made, that we can’t replace,” he said.
Other residents in North say they could barely leave their homes Thursday morning.
“I didn't have any idea that it was as bad as it was in my mud room down there, but that's where my all my freezers are, and the washer machine, and all that, all that's underwater,” Debbie Tucker said.
Debbie and her husband, Sam Tucker, said law enforcement offered to evacuate them from their home by boat due to heavy flooding. They said one of their vehicles suffered extensive damage.
“We're gonna have to probably cover it under the insurance as well, so I think it's probably gone," she said. "If it rises any more, we won't be able to get the avalanche out, so then we would actually have to utilize the boat."
Residents encourage people to stay home if possible
“You don't know what's in this water, and it's muddy, and you can't see anything," Tucker said. "The best thing to do is to stay out of it. If you can reach high ground, get to high ground, stay out of this mess.”
