CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County officials say flooding in the Waccamaw river will get worse in the coming weeks.
Emergency crews spent Sunday evacuating homes along the river and are preparing to do so again as the river rises.
By Monday, October 17th, the Waccamaw should be at 17 feet. That’s almost a foot above last year’s levels in October. The river is currently at 14 feet.
Horry County Spokesperson Lisa Bourcier said, “We’re above major flood stage now, we’ll see a couple of more feet before it kind of maintains that level for about ten days.”
In response, Horry County Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Scott Thompson said, “we’re focusing primarily on accessing people who have called that need help getting out that may have had some type of medical emergency overnight that we were unable to get in there to them.”
He said the department has performed 7 rescues and expects that number to grow as the river continues to flood.
The City of Conway rescued people from 13 homes Sunday and 16 decided to self evacuate.
George Debusk is a resident who did not evacuate. His house didn’t flood but he was surprised by what the storm did to some of his neighbors.
“My neighbors here have been flooded out already. The water is up over their floors already,” he said pointing to their flooded yard. “It’s been very bad. This storm is much worse than we expected.”
The bridge behind East Country Club Rd. and Long Ave. to I-95 is closed due to the flooding.