There was an expectation for heavy rain, but no one was ready for the flooding that occurred in Batesburg-Leesville the night of Thursday, June 22. 

“It was steady rain pretty much all day yesterday, and then it was a sudden downpour sometime in the seven o'clock hour,” said Sherrie Jumper, vice president of Shealy’s Bar-B-Que. 

The landmark restaurant was covered in a layer of rainwater almost instantly when the downpour began. It’s unclear how many customers were in the building during the storm but they were the staff’s first priority. 

“The first thing is the safety of the customers and employees, so we made sure to get everyone out into safety as quickly as possible,” Jumper said. “With everything being flooded, there wasn't a whole lot we could do other than lock the door and pray then come back later and clean up.”

There were no protocols in place for the flooding, Jumper told the Chronicle. 

“We can’t control the weather, so there's not a whole lot we can do to prevent this from happening again,” Jumper said. “But I think we handled it pretty well with some dedicated employees and our janitorial services. We were very reactive and got everything cleaned up.”

Shealy’s announced that it would open its doors for business as usual on Friday morning.

Town Manager Ted Luckadoo told the Chronicle that Mayor Lancer Shull signed a disaster declaration, with an emergency Town Council meeting set for Saturday, June 24, to approve it. The measure will open the door for Gov. Henry McMaster to declare a state of emergency for the town and for FEMA to provide assistance.

Both Luckadoo and Assistant Town Manager Jay Hendrix called this week’s flooding worse than what the town saw during the “thousand year flood” of 2015.

According to Hendrix, the town experienced numerous road closures due to flooding, with one vehicle being submerged, saying that it was enough to kill the engine but there were no injuries.

Resident Cynthia Adams shared a video of floodwaters washing a car away along Bethlehem Road.

Hendrix told the Chronicle that the town experienced more than a foot of rain the past two days, with almost half of that happening over a two hour period. He added that the ground was already saturated from previous rain and that the stormwater was unable to get absorbed, leading to nearly complete runoff.

The impact to local roads was ongoing the day after the flooding, with the state Department of Transportation working through the night and into the afternoon Friday to clear a stretch of U.S. Highway 1.

Hendrix noted that Norfolk Southern was on the ground fixing railroad lines and that U.S. 1 was reopened, along with all other roads in town, by Friday afternoon.

“We do not typically flood. We have a few areas in town that are more prone to localized flooding due to some inadequacies in the stormwater system,” he said. “These areas are familiar to us and we have worked with Lexington County and SCDOT on improving these areas but still have work to do.”

During the flooding, Hendrix said the fire department responded to 17 calls for service and the police department responded to 25, with police dispatch answering 15 911 calls and 98 non-911 calls.

Efforts to assess damages have begun, with Lexington County Emergency Management on the scene getting started. Hendrix said there is already more damage than the office anticipated.

Luckadoo said many ponds overflowed and that a few dams outside the town limits were damaged. He added that there was damage to houses from fallen trees and fences being washed out or destroyed. Many residences had standing water inside them.

“The town hopes to utilize this event to help advocate for more stormwater improvements to our community,” Hendrix said.

Restaurants weren’t the only businesses impacted by the weather. Farm owners Amber and RJ Thomas lost about $500 of seed they had laid days prior. 

“A normal rain would have been beneficial but that much, that fast will always be detrimental to seed or even seedlings,” Thomas said. 

Their farm has been washed out by the sudden flooding, but it seems there was no damage to their property.   

“I'm just glad that our house and barns are higher up and didn't get damaged,” Thomas said. 

Twin City Church of Christ is also handling damage from the flash flood. All of the church was underwater, said church member Iris Garrett, noting that water was almost up to the pews.

The congregation is attempting to dry the church for services to be held on Sunday. 

Another local restaurant, The Spud Stop on Columbia Avenue, dealt with flooding.

“The past few days have been crazy with the rain,” the restaurant posted to Facebook June 23. “The road in front of our establishment flooded yesterday and we had a leak in the ceiling but with the promise from God we are open today and look forward to seeing everyone. We are very grateful to hear other business in the area are up and going this morning! Now go out and support local small business!”

This is a developing story and will continue to be updated.