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