2 weeks Ago By DIONNE GLEATON T&D Staff Writer
North resident Mitchell Wright III doesn't think he'll be able to move back into his childhood home at 1239 Bedford Ave. following heavy flooding. More than 10 inches of rain fell in some locations in the western part of Orangeburg County on Wednesday and Thursday, causing flooding and road issues.
“There's a crawl space under the house. When the water gets down there, whatever the water level is, that is what it is underneath. It's not concrete.
We’ve got wood floors all the way through. So the water has damaged that, and when it gets dry, it's going to start to mold and mildew,” he said Friday afternoon. Wright had to get in and out of his house with boots.
“I think it's all because of those drains. I got in touch with the councilman over the area, Councilman (Joseph) Garvin. They came out last year.
They spent about 15 minutes, and they were gone. I've been texting him since yesterday because I took pictures,” Wright said. “I said, ‘This is the problem that I was talking about that I'm trying to avoid.
’ Every time it rains, the drains overflow and the water runs down here. Everybody has been saying, ‘Yeah, your mama and daddy have been dealing with this for years and been trying to get somebody to rework those drains.’ Nothing's been happening,” the 60-year-old said.
It never flooded at his home like it did last week, he said. He is now preparing to live with his aunt until he can address his situation further. Wright said water also settled in his home's kitchen and middle bedroom.
“I’ve got to get up out of here,” he said, noting that drainage issues are just part of it because his house also sits on a low area. “I don't know if there's anything they can do about that. But, like I told the insurance adjuster, I know this house will have to be torn down and rebuilt or whatever, and the septic tank has overflowed,” Wright said.
Also, his car sat underwater and is now drying out. He continued, “It's never been like this. I mean, water would run in and settle pretty much in the back where we used to play basketball, but never like this.
Never. It kind of stressed me out, but I got over the initial shock and I was good.” Garvin said, “I am trying to help folks.
” He noted that money from the 1 percent capital projects sales tax that voters approved during the Nov. 5 election will help repair drainage lines in areas he represents, including North and Springfield. “We do have something that's ongoing to do that.
The penny tax helps a lot,” not just for drainage issues, but recreation and road projects, he said. He said the county is also working with the state Department of Transportation to address drainage issues that have affected areas such as North. “We're trying to help them the best we know how,” Garvin said, noting he stretches discretionary funds as far as he can to assist with issues such as drainage.
Thelma Oliver lives at 149 Holland Street in North, where drainage issues also plague her area, particularly following the heavy rains North experienced on Wednesday and Thursday. She said the drains near her home have not been adequately cleaned. Water settled beside her home Thursday and resulted in not only flooded cars, but a burned-out truck owned by her son, Eric.
Eric tried to crank it Friday afternoon just before he saw fire, Oliver said. “My boy’s truck just burned up from that water,” Oliver said. Eric said, “That's what the fire marshal says caused it, I don't know.
They just left here putting that fire out. Yesterday, all my cars. .
.. everything was under water yesterday.
” “It was a mess. ..
. The ditch is caving in now. No pipes burst, but up on the driveway is on the road, there's two big pipes that run through that ditch.
On Thursday when that water started coming, it just didn't go through, flow like it should have and it flooded up everything down there,” he said. Eric said he didn't expect the water to rise as high as it did and would like to see drainage issues fixed. “We'll have the same issue if we have another heavy rain or a flood again.
Take better maintenance of the drainage system around here,” he said. Oliver said it was inconvenient to be somewhat stuck in town with various road closures which have restricted travel. “That bridge (at Nance Pond on U.
S. Highway 178) is going to be out for a while. We've got to do what we’ve got to do.
I don't go to Orangeburg as much as I used to. I used to go down there for my food and everything," she said, but she has other options such as the Piggly Wiggly in Neeses. “You have to work with what it is.
You to pray and trust in God and thank God it wasn't any worse. Water could have covered the whole house, but it didn't,” she said. North residents Billy and Trudy Robinson, who live along the North Road, had two feet of water surround their home.
“In the house we got like 8 inches of water (while other spots had two inches). ..
. Thank God we’ve got flood insurance," Billy Robinson said. Family and friends were helping clean his home Friday afternoon.
“It's just mind boggling what you’ve got to do. My sister-in-law has got a camper. We actually stayed there.
...
We're moving stuff over there that we need immediately,” he said. “The sheds out back got all flooded, and we cleaned stuff out of them. .
...
They've ripped out all the carpet already. Right now, they're boxing up everything to go put in a pod,” Robinson said. “This is the worst I've ever seen for here,” he said.
He said it has been frustrating for residents who have been unable to travel on certain roads, “but unfortunately that's the way it goes with a lot of these disasters like this.” “It's very frustrating because you go this way and another side road is washed out, and then you’ve got dams whose integrity might be messed up. I know it's frustrating for people trying to get around.
...
Hopefully we can get some federal aid in here to help for infrastructure as far as highways,” Robinson said. “Down here in Neeses ..
. they're receiving truckloads of water. .
.. because all these pipes are gone.
...
Some of these people will be out of water for two weeks and maybe longer than that. But thank God here in North we’ve got power, we’ve got a home. We're blessed,” he said.
North Police Chief Lin Shirer said Friday there were still homes in North with flooded yards and that while there are still roads that are impassable and blocked off, “a lot of the roads are passable now.” He said many people are going down Slab Landing Road before turning on Woodcrest Road to get to Highway 178 to head into Orangeburg, a route that allows them to bypass the flooded-out area at Nance Pond. “You have clear sailing from there,” Shirer said.
He said the town was having issues with people going through barriers or removing barriers, something he advises people not to do. North Mayor Jeff Washington said, “They're moving the barricades and not paying us any attention and going through them. We've got several roads that have got to be fixed.
” He continued, “I’ve got to get DOT in here, and we’ve got to clean out these ditches. That water was bad. It's tearing up everything.
I had to go out last night down on Holland Street where the water was coming over the ditch going over into someone's house.” “For the most part, we've got to get DOT out here to work on these drains. When it rains like that, we've got a mess.
We’ve got about 16 inches of rain here in North,” Washington said. He's also working on cleaning ditches along Cromer Avenue homes with the help of Orangeburg County. “Orangeburg County and DOT are helping me out all they can.
I don't have any complaints with them,” he said. The road leading to the town's sewage plant is also damaged. As far as frustrated travelers, Washington said, “There’s nothing we can do about it,” but work is being done to repair the roads.
“I want to see drainage fixed. I want to see the ditches cleaned out. .
.. They’ve got to redo some ditches (along Salley Road).
That road is going to eat out. They came in and fixed it one time, but they're going to have to come back in and reconstruct that,” the mayor said. “I told DOT that I know we got all this rain at once and weren't looking for this.
They should be checking these drains at least once a month or twice a month, coming in and cleaning these drains. They were doing it one time. They need to come back and start checking these drains.
If not, we're going to have the same problems, and we're trying to avoid that," he said. Contact the writer: [email protected] or 803-533-5534.
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