CAYCE, S.C. — On Sunday, the City of Cayce issued a call for voluntary evacuations of the Riverland Park neighborhood, which sits on the Congaree River.
Early Tuesday morning, residents started to return home after the river crested.
Leonard Vaughn is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia. He says the river is starting to lower, but residents should stay aware.
"Most of the rivers have crested so the rivers like the Congaree River, Wateree River, the North Fork of the Edisto, those rivers have since crested and they’re gradually going back down," Vaughn said. "And we hope that the Congaree River in Columbia will be below flood stage later this afternoon.”
Vaughn says those in neighborhoods similar to Riverland Park tend to pay attention to the river levels.
“Only people that would really have to pay attention to the river and the people downstream from Columbia, like down towards the Congaree National Park. Those areas have just recently crested so the river remains quite high in those areas," said Vaughn. "But people that tend to live in those areas on the river, they’re very aware of what happens with the river, and they’re usually on top of things as far as staying safe.”
In an effort to stay safe, resident Ashley Brown, who is now back home and cleaning up, took paid attention to the City of Cayce's evacuation suggestion.
“Thursday when Helene, the storm came through, we had to evacuate," said Brown. "It wasn’t mandatory but they gave us voluntary evacuation plans to leave out the neighborhood. The water came so far from the river in our yard, we had to evacuate because my mother is disabled, and they were taking us out with firetrucks.”
Myra Reece is the director of the SCS Department of Environmental Services. She says if dam owners keep vigilant about clearing out spillways, flooding can be minimized.
“We have noticed in our assessments that we’ve noticed some clogged spillways," said Reece. "And we just want to continue to encourage those damn owners to be paying close attention to those types of issues and to avoid any issues because of that.”
Boat ramps into the Congaree River are still closed to the public.