Chesterfield County Prepares For Debby

CHESTERFIELD CO. – Families in Cheraw love coming down to the Pee Dee River for the sights and sounds.   

WCCB’s Emma Mondo spoke with a family down by the river in Cheraw on Wednesday who remembers the impact hurricane Florence made here back in 2018.

“It was bad,” said one mother. “It was flooded all the way up there,” she said, pointing to a picnic area well above the river’s edge. 

 Tropical Storm Debby will drench the area on Thursday. South Carolina counties like Chesterfield are already seeing the rain come down. WCCB Charlotte meteorologist Kaitlin Wright says there is a flood warning for the Pee Dee River in Cheraw. As of Wednesday evening, it’s measuring at ten feet of water, and it will flood at 30 feet. The river is forecasted to reach roughly 41 feet on sunday.

 Cheraw town manager Rob Wolfe tells Mondo their biggest concern is their storm drainage system.  

“We’ve had crews out all week making sure storm drains are clear and open so that water can flow where it needs to go into the Pee Dee River.”  

He says Cheraw has made some serious upgrades to its infrastructure system since Florence.

“We replaced our raw water line, which actually did wash out during Florence, and the town almost lost water, so now we have a flood proof water line,” he said. “Be it natural gas generators at our emergency facilities, we can open our community center as a safe zone if we need to, so we’re all set and ready to go.”

Chesterfield County Schools made an announcement that students will have e-learning tomorrow.