Remaining Riverland Park residents watch rising Congaree

Dorthea Dennis watched her grandson and son as they stood in the family’s driveway Monday morning and tried to start a car that was already halfway underwater.

The water came up to their calves. The car was packed full of their belongings.

After turning the ignition a few times, it finally flipped. Dennis cheered from the side of the road while her family slowly drove through the water on Riverside Lane.

Dennis said her house started flooding around 3 p.m. Sunday. After that, it rose quickly. They weren’t able to gather everything, mostly just clothes.

“I mean at this point, you’re just thankful that there’s no loss of life,” Dennis said. “We have our health, so we move. And that’s all you can do at this point.”

Cayce police officers had gone door-to-door Sunday afternoon, informing residents of Riverland Park of the call for a voluntary evacuation. The Congaree River’s water level is rapidly rising and flooding into the residential areas. Riverland Park is the most vulnerable neighborhood, which includes Dennis’s street.

The Congaree reached its peak at 30.58 feet Monday at 9:15 a.m., according to the United States Geological Survey. The river hasn’t reached that kind of height since the 2015 historic flood, when waters crested at 31.8 feet. West Columbia and Cayce are south of the confluence of the Saluda and Broad rivers, where they form the Congaree. Cayce is the lower lying of the Lexington County cities. 

But not all of Dennis’s neighbors were evacuating. William Marshall watched the water level rise a few houses from his own on Hudson Avenue. He has lived in his house for 40 years and watched it withstand Hurricane Hugo and the 2015 flood.

“If you chose to stay, they would get your name, phone number, address – just in case something disastrous happened,” he said.

Marshall has been using his kayak to help bring his neighbors to and from houses surrounded by water. All that can be done now is prepare, he said.

Angel Flowers also decided to wait out the flooding. She has been a resident since 2014 and lives a few doors from Dennis.

“They (Cayce PD) encouraged us to leave, but I was here in 2015 and I know how bad it got in 2015,” Flowers said. “But this is currently worse than 2015 because the water didn’t come this far down the road.”

Flowers, her 5-month-old son and her mother stood on their porch, watching water overtake the street. She said there are a lot of concerns when evacuating.

“Even if I go to the shelter, I might not be comfortable with a lot of people’s germs,” Flowers said. “So if I have to rent a room, that’s additional resources out of my pocket.”

Flowers looked at hotel availabilities on Friday. But everything nearby was already booked. She said the closest places with rooms were in Blythewood and Sumter.

So she was stuck watching the water rise and making a judgment call later in the day.

“If it creeps a little bit more down the road, I definitely will be leaving,” Flowers said. “… I have a 5-month-old baby. And that water, mildew and everything that comes with it – I’ll be leaving.”

Staff writer Cassie Cornwell contributed to this report.