Flash Flood in Greenville County, South Carolina

Three to six inches of rain falling in a couple of hours caused an extreme urban flash flood and stream flooding event in the Greenville metro area. The flooding initially began on the east side of the city in the Haywood Rd/downtown airport area, where several cars were stalled in deep, rushing water due to an overflowing culvert on Byrdland Dr (3 E Downtown). A 39-year-old man and 36-year-old woman who abandoned their vehicles to seek higher ground drowned after being swept into the fast-moving water and nearby culvert which drained into Laurel Creek. A tributary of Richland Creek flooded several dozen apartment homes along Villa Rd between Pleasantburg Dr and Pelham Rd (2.5 ENE Downtown). The most severe flooding occurred on the east side of downtown, near the Stone Ave/I-385 intersection, due to a combination of Richland Creek overflowing its banks by several feet and major urban flooding. Multiple vehicles were stalled in high water in this area. The high water caused a gas leak and explosion at a restaurant on Stone Ave, causing significant damage to the exterior of the building. Richland Creek and the Reedy River overflowed their banks and flooded much of Cleveland Park, which remained closed for two days. This was the worst flooding along this portion of the Reedy in almost 10 years. Additionally, a small tributary of Langston Creek flooded the intersection of Langston Dr and Highway 276 (3 NNW Downtown). Finally, Rocky Creek, or a culvert draining into Rocky Creek overflowed along I-85 near the Pelham Rd exit (7 E Downtown), sending water over the southbound lane and forcing closure of the interstate for several hours.

A backdoor cold front moving from the northeast toward the southwest caused numerous thunderstorms and heavy rain showers to suddenly erupt as it moved across northern portions of Upstate South Carolina during the evening. The storms moved slowly, while multiple storms moved over some of the same areas repeatedly. The result was extreme rainfall rates that produced 3 to 6 inches of rain in only a couple of hours. Although multiple localized flash flood events occurred across the Upstate, the most severe flooding was in the Greenville metro area, especially near downtown Greenville (where two fatalities occurred) and in the Greer/Taylors area.