Lee’s Landing residents preparing for worst, packed to evacuate

Chad Huggins’ house is the first to flood when the Waccamaw River rises above Lee’s Landing, so he worked through the drenching rain Sunday that swamped Conway to pull his property away from the bank and prepared to evacuate.

Nearly a foot of water flooded Huggins’ property and carport during the last major flooding event in 2013. This week, he expects to see more than 4 feet of water cover his carport, while his father Garvin Huggins is predicting a flood that would rival Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

It’s not just the river that the younger Huggins worries will flood his property, but the swamp across the street already inching towards the road. He eyed both paths of floodwaters warily as he packed up his shed and storage rooms, stacked the freezers on cinder blocks and cleared the carport.

“Two floods in two years is just too much – it’s very aggravating,” Huggins said.

“But if you live on the river, you have to be prepared. You can’t live in a river house and not expect flooding.”

He won’t have far to go when the time comes to bug-out, which Huggins expects could come as soon as Monday. The Lee’s Landing native and his three Labrador Retrievers will bunk with his father whose house sits on higher ground closer to Highway 90.

National Weather Service forecasters have gradually inched up their flooding predictions this week, originally predicting on Saturday the river would rise 11.8, but now say the Waccamaw is expected to rise nearly 14 feet by Friday.

“That would be major,” Garvin Huggins said.

In the last decade, the Waccamaw River has risen as high as 12 feet during four different storms. Hurricane Floyd brought in nearly 17 feet, and the record excluding that is 13.4 feet. If the latest prediction holds, this storm would spawn the worst flooding on the Waccamaw River since Hurricane Floyd.

President Barack Obama has already declared a state of emergency in South Carolina, where nearly 20,000 residents are without power, and close to 100 roads and bridges statewide have been closed since the storm began battering the state on Friday.

The South Carolina Emergency Management Agency issued a civil emergency message Sunday morning asking residents to stay off the roads because of flash flooding.

Three weather-related deaths in the state have been reported by the highway patrol – a car hit one pedestrian, and two motorists were killed after losing control of their cars in flooded streets.

However, residents from Lee’s Landing began lining up at the nearest Dollar General Store on Highway 90 to stock up on supplies. Chris Jones said he opened the store at 6 a.m. and more than 100 customers had poured through before noon to stock up on batteries, flashlights, candles, water and snacks.

Shawne Cassidy, a teacher for the Horry County school system, had just learned that classes were cancelled Monday and was stocking up with junk food. Her house was destroyed during Hurricane Floyd, but now she lives on higher ground and said she plans to ride out the storm relaxing in front of the television.

Gina Crist’s family lived on Lee’s Landing when Hurricane Fran hit and recalled its devastating impact on the neighborhood.

“It came up quick and we had one hour to pack up and get out. At the river’s peak, we had 4 feet of water in the house. Needless to say, it was traumatizing,” Crist said.

Now she and her husband live a mile from landing and only have to deal with flooded roads and water ponding in the yard, while those living on the landing lined up their boats, campers and trailers to move out within the next 24 to 48 hours.

“The river will rise as the week progresses, that’s when the real flooding will happen,” Crist said. “I feel terrible for them.”

It’s not just Mother Nature that the Huggins are concerned about this week, it’s the vandals and thieves who would take advantage of the disaster to break into evacuated homes.

Flooded roads won’t keep out criminals, they’ll kayak the Waccamaw and dock right in the back yard to burglarize a house, said the elder Huggins.

But if the high water comes, it won’t keep the Huggins out either. They’ll be patrolling the neighborhood by boat to protect their property, as well as keep an eye on their neighbors’ homes along Lee’s Landing Circle.

“Everybody helps everybody when this happens,” Garvin Huggins said.

This story was originally published October 4, 2015 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Lee’s Landing residents preparing for worst, packed to evacuate."