NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (AP) - Rains deluged parts of South Carolina and Georgia on Tuesday, washing out roads and forcing the closure of a state park.
Augusta, Georgia, set a new record for any July day with 4.6 inches (nearly 120 millimeters) of rain, while a National Weather Service observer in Beaufort County, South Carolina, reported nearly 10 inches (254 millimeters). Heavy rain was also reported at Pawleys Island on the coast north of Charleston.
Widespread flooding was reported in Lincoln County, Georgia, and Edgefield County, South Carolina. Forecasters said an area of low pressure was moving through. It’s expected to move over the Atlantic Ocean and could develop into a tropical storm later this week, National Weather Service forecasters said.
Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen said one person was killed in a two-vehicle crash Tuesday in Augusta while driving in the rain.
Firefighters near North Augusta had to rescue people by boat from homes after water breached a dam on a creek, with flooding knocking at least two houses off their foundations.
“You wouldn’t think it was going to happen on this little creek because I mean it’s only maybe a 10-foot wide, 15-foot wide creek,” Chris Franco told WJBF-TV.
Edgefield County Emergency Management Director Suzy Spurgeon said drainage pipes were torn out of some local roads.
“We got a whole lot of rain in a very short period of time,” Spurgeon told WRDW-TV.
Hunting Island State Park near Beaufort reported more than 12 inches (32 centimeters) of rain in 48 hours. The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism said the park would be closed at least through Thursday.
Park Manager J.W. Weatherford told The Island Packet of Hilton Head that flooding surpassed 2017’s Tropical Storm Irma. Besides flooding, park managers were worried about recent patches to frequently flooded roads being ruined. State park officials plan a $3 million project to repave the park’s roads and elevate them in areas that flood frequently.
In Lincoln County, Georgia, a state highway and other roads were covered with water, although it later receded.
“I came up and looked and the bridge was not there, there was just water rushing across,” Lincoln County resident Mary Thedford said.
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