Horry County is seeing ‘unprecedented’ flooding, and it’s not over yet

Horry County is seeing “unprecedented flooding” in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, the county’s emergency management leader said Saturday.

Local rivers are rising to record levels, and emergency crews are working to manage traffic and plan for a “worst-case scenario,” Randy Webster, director of Horry County Emergency Management, said in a video posted on Facebook on Saturday afternoon.

“We do have a game plan,” Webster said. “We do have a worst-case scenario, and that’s what we’re trying to plan for. We know a lot of folks are going to be impacted that have never been impacted before.”

The Waccamaw River near Longs reached a flood level of 20.14 feet by 2 p.m. Saturday, and it’s still rising, according to the National Weather Service. The river is expected to crest Tuesday at about 22 feet — roughly 4 feet higher than levels seen after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

The Waccamaw is expected to crest even higher — 28 feet — on Wednesday near Bucksport.

Meanwhile, the Pee Dee and Little Pee Dee rivers have crested, according to the National Weather Service. But that’s little relief, at least right away, for people who live in their path.

The Pee Dee River crested Friday at 31.83 feet, the Weather Service reported. That’s the second-highest level recorded for the river.

The Little Pee Dee River also crested Friday, exceeding Hurricane Matthew levels at 17.21 feet, according to the Weather Service. By Saturday afternoon, the river had fallen 16.6 feet.

Both the Pee Dee and Little Pee rivers will continue to fall through Thursday but remain at “major flood” stage, the Weather Service said.

Many Horry County residents who live in flood-prone areas have evacuated their homes. The Red Cross is operating 10 shelters across the county.

But as people leave, navigating the many closed roads is a challenge. Parts of Highway 9, a major route in the northern part of the county, were closed Saturday. Webster said U.S. 501 Business could close by Saturday evening.

“The main plan was to have a route in and out of here so we could make sure we have supplies, commodities we need to get through this event.”

About 100,000 vehicles a day are traveling through Conway on the U.S. 501 Bypass, which has been reduced to two lanes, Webster said.

“We’ve never seen that before,” Webster said, “and trying to handle that has been a challenge.”

The S.C. National Guard built a sandbag barrier days ago to protect U.S. 501 in Conway from the rising Waccamaw River.

A temporary flood barrier is also being built on U.S. 17 in Georgetown County.

For some people downstream, there is still time to take precautions ahead of flooding, Webster said.

“This is a slow, agonizing rise,” Webster said of the rivers.