CONWAY, SC (WBTW)- The Waccamaw River crested in Conway on Wednesday.
The City of Conway has more destruction than they’ve ever seen. City leaders got an aerial view of the damage from a helicopter Wednesday morning.
Some parts of the city that are underwater have never seen flooding, and now people who never thought this would happen to them are trying to figure out what to do next.
The Waccamaw River crested at 21 feet. Water flooded the Horry County Courthouse parking lot, homes and businesses along the River Walk, and almost reached the tops of trees.
The City of Conway is telling people to go to the Conway Recreational Center to start applying for help from FEMA.
“Go ahead go sign up, fill out your application, and just start the process with them. The quicker you can get that process started, the quicker you can hopefully start to rebuild here in Conway,” said city spokesperson Taylor Newell.
News 13 rode with Santee Cooper as they tested water farther up the river to get a base of what might be in the water, and tested right at the Ash ponds to see if anything is coming into the water.
They said so far, everything found is within their permit levels.
Santee Cooper said some water went over Ash Pond 1, but never reached the top of the Aquadam on Ash Pond 2.
“We had to pump water into those ponds to shore up the dikes to keep the pressure the same so now as the water goes down we’re going to have to start pumping that water out. We will continue to test the water to make sure it doesn’t have any of the ash in it or metals in that ash,” said Tracy Vreeland, public relations specialist with Santee Cooper.
The Waccamaw will stay at crest level for at least a day before it begins to fall, and will stay above previous record setting levels through early next week.
