Jim Fair
City crews were examining creeks and streams that flooded streets and yards. This bridge at Alcorn Street and Hwy, 101 was strewn with debris as water ran over the banks and into a yard.
Jim Fair
The force of the water ripped this shrubbery at a creek at Alcorn Street and Hwy. 101. Silt and sand covered a backyard and mud caked Alcorn Street. The asphalt on the bridge was torn shredded.
“We had to use the ropes to get him out, but he’s OK,” Greer Fire Chief Chris Harvey said. Two firemen ran along the stream to rescue one of the passengers who was washed downstream after a vehicle, traveling south on Memorial Drive Extension, fell into culvert. During the rescue attempt the fireman slipped into the water.
City crews from the planning and zoning department Monday were surveying creeks, bridges and roads for damages caused by 5-6 inches of rain that fell on parts of Greer and Greenville County late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.
Staff from the Greer Commission of Public Works continued examining the washed out culvert in front of Second Baptist Church on Memorial Drive Extension between Chandler and Taylor Roads.
Three people from a vehicle driven by Chelsea Taylor Bates suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to the City of Greer police report.
Bates, 21, Michelle Marie Martin, 23, and a 3-year-old boy were rescued from the Chevrolet they were in when it plunged into the culvert at 10:44 p.m. Saturday, according to police. Larry Richard Cooper, 45, was one minute behind the first vehicle when it also fell into the culvert. Cooper made the call to 911 while inside his vehicle in the culvert.
Randy Olson, city operations administrator for CPW, said his crews, “secured the three-inch gas line at the culvert washout and took some pressure off the water lines.” Neither the gas or water lines broke, Olson said.
“It was surreal,” Olson said. “All the dirt washed away but the pipes held.” Two towing companies pulled the vehicles out of the culvert Sunday without damaging the exposed pipes.
Olson said his concern was debris that may have accumulated in sewers and creeks. “I understand there are some manhole covers under water.”
Olson was out of town Saturday night and followed the weather alerts on his cell phone. “When I saw Chief Harvey on TV Sunday morning I knew it wasn’t good,” Olson said.
One of the calls Saturday night was from a woman at home who had to be rescued when water came up to her 4-foot high windows. She couldn’t open the doors and was holding her three cats when she was rescued.
Harvey said all available staff was called in Saturday night. “People off duty were called back and we handled the situation pretty well.”
Harvey said, “The massive amount of water in a short time was too much for the drainage systems to handle. That’s why new construction has storm water draining. Some of these (flooded) areas are from older construction.”
The Greer fire department was aided by the Lake Cunningham Fire Department and Greer, in turn, helped the Tyger River and Duncan fire departments.