South Rock Hill neighborhood sees major flooding ahead of Hurricane Helene

Do you have pictures or videos of severe weather? Send to newstips@qcnews.com

ROCK HILL, S.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEW S) — People in one south Rock Hill neighborhood saw more flooding on Thursday hours before Hurricane Helene was set to make landfall.

“I was expecting in this area right here. This is what I was expecting,” Craig Sauvigner said, pointing to the flooded area.

It had already been raining for hours across the Carolinas, and Kings Drive was already partially underwater.

“I’m really hoping that the winds don’t get too bad because where our house is, there’s a lot of really tall trees. And that’s what makes me really nervous. But the folks around here seeing all this flooding worries me here,” Sauvigner said.

This area of Kings Drive and Neely Road sees heavy flooding often, but when Hurricane Helene was announced, neighbors were concerned the flood levels would rise higher than in previous years.

One house was completely submerged.

“I didn’t think it’d be this bad until sometime tomorrow morning. We’ve seen where they closed the road up here, and they already have the signs up there staging and getting ready to close,” Sauvigner said.

South Carolina transportation crews have been trimming trees and clearing drains across the state since Monday. Officials say they’re prepared for any potential impacts.

“These are teams of people who know what they’re doing. They know the problem areas, so these maintenance crews—these are people that live in your area. These are people that live near these roadways and use these roadways to get to work every day. They know what to do. They know low-lying areas that flood often. So they’re monitoring those roads,” said South Carolina Department of Transportation representative Hannah Robinson.

Officials encourage the public to report flooding or downed trees if drivers see any on a state-maintained roadway.

“You could just call us at 855-GOSCDOT. That will get you to our call center, who’s fielding calls as we speak to our maintenance department so that they can go out and clear things to keep everything moving,” Robinson said.

BE THE FIRST TO KNOW: Sign up here for QC News Alerts and get Severe Weather Updates sent straight to your inbox

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.