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Heavy rains cause road closures, flooding

FOOTHILLS—Most of the area woke up Thursday morning to emergency alerts after some sections of the Foothills received 3.5 inches of rain between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. 

Several roads were closed with many roads throughout the Polk County and Landrum area covered with water by early Thursday morning. Tornados warnings began to be issued Thursday morning following a tornado touching down in Spartanburg, S.C. A flash flood warning was also issued through Thursday. 

Schools remained in session, with the Polk County School System sending an alert saying that schools were still in session in the morning as official did not feel it was safe for people to travel. 

“Students are safe/dry/supervised/fed,” the message said. 

Then later on Thursday, the school system released students at 1 p.m. as storms seemed to calm in the afternoon. 

According to Polk County Emergency Management Director Bobby Arledge around 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Parts of Fox Mountain, Levi, Adewahi and Woodland Roads were closed in Columbus from high waters; Solen Williams, Coxe, Phillips Dairy, East Green Creek, McEntire, Landrum Road, Burgandy Road, John Weaver Road and West Melvin Hill near the state line were also closed. 

Golden Road and River Road were also closed in sections in Tryon as well as the Hooper Creek dam behind Golf Course Road, which county officials said was flooding pretty badly Thursday afternoon. 

The area most worrisome for the heavy rains was U.S. 176 in Tryon, or the Pacolet Valley, but as of press time was still open to traffic. The Pacolet River had crested in some areas as of press time. 

Heavy thunderstorms and heavy rain was expected through Friday morning. 

According to most predictions, showers were to continue Thursday night with thunderstorms before 1 a.m., then more chances of showers. Winds were predicted Thursday night to be between 7 and 11 mph with gusts as high as 20 mph. Friday calls for mostly sunny with 8 to 13 mph winds and gusts as high as 22 mph. 

Saturday calls for a 40 percent chance of rain after 1 p.m. with Saturday night calling for a slight chance of rain mixing with snow after 11 p.m. and gradually ending. 

Polk County emergency officials have been meeting this week and handled many emergency calls Thursday morning with flooded roads and areas. A shelter will be set up if necessary, which is run by the county division of social services and the American Red Cross. 

Updates will be posted online and on the Tryon Daily Bulletin Facebook page as necessary.