HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – Homeowners in one of the hardest-hit areas in Horry County are working to clean up following Dorian.
“We just got this house finished from Florence,” Grier Crossing resident Darlene Will said. “And here it is the beginning of September, and once again I need my house repaired.”
Two feet of water swamped sections of the Grier Crossing neighborhood during Dorian. Viewers submitted clips to News13 showing water backing up driveways, streets and yards.
Darlene Will and her husband were in Pittsburg when the storm struck, but a neighbor uncovered the water creeping into their home.
“They opened the garage door and the garage was full of five and half inches of water,” Will said.
Her neighbor and a contractor were able to stop a lot of the water from getting into their home, but enough got in to damage their baseboards and closet doors.
That equates to thousands of dollars in damage.
News13 first brought you coverage of the flooding issue plaguing Grier Crossing last month.
That’s when county leaders said they were working on a fix to the drainage system there.
Officials still say they are working on diverting water, but since last month, anxiety among homeowners has increased.
Billy Parker, Darlene’s neighbor, worries he could lose it all.
“I got my whole life savings in this house,” he said. “If I lose it. I have nothing.”
Down the street, retired Philadelphia deputy John Hamilton says he has the same worries.
“I don’t have the money to say okay, I’m going to raise my house because I love it here too much,” he said.
Hamilton’s prediction? People will begin to just pick up and leave.
“Five years down the road, you’re going to have people walk away from these houses because they can’t afford to keep paying for repairs,” Hamilton said.
It’s a thought that’s already crossed Darlene’s mind.
“We might have to even walk away,” she said “We can’t just do this. the stress and the fear is just too much. I have an A-1 credit rating and if I have to give it away, I will.”
Some residents have raised concerns over a proposed rezoning nearby that could bring up to 2,000 new homes to the area in the future. An engineer involved with the project says the whole thing is still in its infancy, and will not impact Grier Crossing.