Car hydroplanes into Bluffton pond during deluge of Tropical Storm Debby. Is driver OK?

A driver escaped safely after his car hydroplaned off a Bluffton neighborhood road and into a nearby retention pond Monday night amid the continued heavy rainfall of Tropical Storm Debby .

The car slipped off Hampton Hall Boulevard near its intersection with Shelburne Street around 7:15 p.m. Monday, according to Stephen Combs, a spokesperson for the Bluffton Township Fire District. The driver got out shortly before the vehicle became submerged in a small water hazard nearby, one of several that line the golf course at Hampton Hall Club.

Fire crews cleared the scene around 7:50 p.m., but police remained on scene awaiting a wrecker to remove the vehicle from the water, Combs said.

Local officials have warned residents to avoid unnecessary travel as downpours began Monday from the tropical system, which initally made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane at 7 a.m. in Florida.

A flash flood warning was issued at 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service . Between 2.5 and 4.5 inches of rain had fallen by then, just a fraction of the possible “historic” 30 inches the storm could bring in total.

Rainfall from the tropical storm continues to impact Bluffton-area motorists in major ways. Around 6:30 p.m. Monday, the deluge closed the on-ramp from S.C. 170 to U.S. 278 as massive amounts of water pooled in the roadway. Drivers can use Bluffton Parkway as an alternate route.

As of 8:50 p.m., May River Road was closed near Buck Island Road due to a downed tree, Combs said.

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