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Town of North floods catch residents by surprise, cleanup continues

Over 150 roads in Orangeburg County were closed due to flooding and storm-related issues, including many rural roads still impassable.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Some residents in North and surrounding areas are still recovering from powerful rainfall that swept through the region last Wednesday, causing extensive damage. 

Over 150 roads in Orangeburg County were closed due to flooding and storm-related issues, including many rural roads still impassable.

"It happened so fast, no one was prepared, and it happened so quickly and just in a short amount of time," said Town of North  Police Chief Lin Shirer, who described the rainstorm as catching everyone off guard.

Shirer recalled the day after the storm, standing in a foot of water near a local home still surrounded by floodwaters. "It was higher. You could say it was about another foot up on the side of the residence, and the next door and the residence behind it, on Short Street, is also flooded," he explained.

One of the hardest-hit areas was the block surrounding Short Street, where several homes saw floodwaters rise rapidly.

Local resident Henry, who has lived in North all his life, shared his experience while sitting in the bed of his truck, monitoring a borrowed generator used to pump water from his yard and a neighbor's. "I've been staying here all my life, and it's the first time this much water," he said. "The rain, when it came, didn’t have anywhere to go, so it settled in a couple of yards."

Henry said he didn’t understand why only certain homes were affected. "I can't understand why, just them houses. I'm not wishing anything on anybody else, but I don’t understand that," he said.

Henry spent hours pumping water out of his and his neighbor’s yards and said it would likely take a full day for the water to recede. "It's going to take about a day for that water to get out of it. So I'm gonna be here a while," he said.

He also noted that the location of his house, along with the town’s drainage system, made the flooding especially severe.

While many residents are still cleaning up, Shirer said the situation could have been much worse. Road closures in town have been less extensive than originally feared.

“The roads are okay in town,” Shirer said. “Maybe, I think we got one on Alma that's washed out, and it's washed out around one of the water mains. But everything is fine with that. It's not leaking or anything."

However, Shirer added that outside of town, some roads are still blocked. "About a mile, mile and a half from town, you got 178, still blocked off because of Nancy’s Pawn Creek Mill Road. The bridge is out," he said. "And I know there’s a lot of unpassable dirt roads; some of the county dirt roads, they're trying to fix them, but they’re still unpassable.”

The cleanup effort is expected to continue for weeks as residents work to repair their homes and all roads become open once again.

RELATED: Orangeburg County schools to return to class, but with a schedule change

RELATED: Flooding forces Orangeburg schools to remain closed on Monday

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