South Carolina family thanks first responders after rescue from rising floodwaters

Volunteer firefighters rushed in to save the Santiago family from rapidly rising floodwaters caused by Debby in Berkeley County, South Carolina.

Transcript

00:00Rivers are on the rise across South Carolina as Debbie unleashed more rain.

00:05AccuWeather's Bill Waddell is live in Berkeley County, about 45 minutes northeast of Charleston.

00:09And Bill, you just talked about, talked with one family that was rescued because of high water.

00:16So what's the status there?

00:20Yeah, water levels continuing to rise here, Jeff.

00:22We have been seeing creeks and rivers all throughout the South Carolina low country,

00:25just continuing to rise throughout the day.

00:28These waterways are just struggling to keep up with all of the water that we've seen over the

00:32past 24, 48 hours from Debbie. Now we are in the community of Hugey, and this is French Quarter

00:39Creek here behind me. This is where the creek is supposed to be. It clearly has swelled right out

00:43of its banks, crossed over this road, and pretty much this entire neighborhood with several houses

00:48down this street are surrounded by water. So it's been a nerve-wracking afternoon for people,

00:54and for one couple with a nine-month-old daughter, it's been an incredibly nervous day,

00:59and they wanted to get out of here before dark. Now you can see the video that's just back to

01:04AccuWeather, just how high this water has been rising throughout the day and what these families

01:08have been dealing with in this part of South Carolina. It's been concerning locals and

01:12meteorologists at AccuWeather. This is what we've been worried about, inland flooding,

01:16with creeks unable to keep up with the rain. This creek quickly reached major flood stage

01:21this afternoon, jumping about three feet very fast. Vinny and Ashley Santiago say they are

01:27grateful for the volunteer firefighters who rushed in, getting them, their dog, and their

01:32nine-month-old daughter, Isla, to safety. For them to really come out and pull us out within like

01:3915 minutes, I think, I thought, I don't know, I was crying a few minutes ago. So they really

01:44saved the day. I mean, I can't thank them enough. I really want to go over there and hug everyone.

01:49We wouldn't be able to sleep comfortable at night knowing, you know, if they weren't there,

01:55I don't know what we would have done, to be honest. So it's really nice to see, you know,

01:59as soon as we make a call, they're right there to help us out. And they've done a really good job.

02:03We really appreciate y'all. Thank you. And the Santiago family is safe. There have been a lot

02:10of hugs all around. Again, this water rescue going down just within the past 90 minutes or so. And

02:15they tell us that they're just glad they didn't wait any longer because they didn't want to have

02:20to navigate these floodwaters in the dark. They didn't want to put fire crews and first responders,

02:25a lot of them volunteers in this area, they didn't want to put them in danger either. So Jeff,

02:29this is just one of the situations in one of the neighborhoods here in South Carolina. We're seeing

02:34so much rain from Debbie. This is the big concern. A lot of the focus oftentimes is on the beaches,

02:38at the shore, in the big towns. But again, some of the biggest problems may be in these smaller

02:43communities, rural areas, where these creeks could continue rising well after dark tonight.

02:48All right, Bill, we appreciate that report there. Scary times, but

02:51good to see some people getting rescued there, getting to a safe spot, especially with kids,

02:56pets, and so forth. So we certainly want everybody to make sure their neighbors are

03:00okay if they are not in a position to take care of themselves as independently. So thanks, Bill.