Lake Paul A. Wallace held through Thursday morning, but two days of rain have caught up to the flood-prone lake in Bennettsville.
Bennettsville City, Marlboro County, and state emergency officials spent the early part of this week shoring up lake walls and clearing drains to allow for what they expected would be an eventual spillover from three inches – so far – of rain from Tropical Storm Debby.
By 2:30 p.m. Thursday, their expectations proved true, as Lake Paul A. Wallace began to spill over into the low-lying neighborhoods of Shady Rest and Richardson Park – two predominantly Black communities that are among the poorest in Bennettsville and which have this year been flooded twice badly enough for residents to temporarily leave their homes.
Bennettsville Mayor Leith Fowler confirmed in a phone call that some residents downstream of the overspill evacuated their homes Thursday, although he did not have an accurate number.
County Emergency Management Director Calvin Cassidy said that no mandatory evacuation order has been given, but he encouraged residents living in the likely flood path to seek shelter elsewhere.
Cassidy also cautioned motorists to not cross washed-out roads and to take all appropriate precautions.
Shady Rest and Richardson Park are dense with homes but thin on permanent residents. Many residents have taken part of a $4.9 million buyout deal crafted by the City of Bennettsville and the South Carolina Office of Resilience that encourages residents to find a new, less flood-prone places to live.
According to the South Carolina Emergency Information Network, Bennettsville could see two more inches of rain before Debby finally moves out of South Carolina.
