LONGS, SC (WBTW) – Neighbors on Star Bluff Road in Longs returned home Thursday night to realize their home had escaped the worst of the flooding by inches.

“We were terrified for a while being gone,” Kari Curran, a Longs resident said.

A boat that was used to access flooded homes on Curran’s street is still tied to her side fence. She says neighbors made a makeshift boat landing outside of her front yard, which came inches from the creeping flood waters.

“It was coming up through the back yard pretty quickly; my neighbors said they had never seen anything like it,” Curran said.

One week ago, Curran was packing up as much as she could from her home as the floodwaters rose quickly.

“I saw my neighbor running to and from her car with everything that she could get in grocery bags, and me doing the same thing, and you know, I saw her crying at one point because you think, ‘When I come back, what is this going to look like,'” Curran said.

When Curran and her family returned home Thursday night after the flood levels receded, they assessed the damage, and said they consider themselves lucky.

“The only damage I had was no air conditioning, so compared to my neighbors down the road, we fared pretty well,” Curran said.

The water rose four feet, covering Curran’s side and back yard, however, she said everything inside of her home, besides the A/C ducts and unit stayed dry.

“We were relieved,” Curran said, to be able to have a house to come home to.”