'Pretty much whole South side of Hendersonville is shut down': Public works superintendent
HENDERSONVILLE - Heavy rainfall Jan. 9 has caused flooding and road closures in Hendersonville.
At 1 p.m. after the Hendersonville area had received close to 4 inches of rain in less than 12 hours, City of Hendersonville Public Works Superintendent Brandon Mundy and many of his crew were patrolling Greenville Highway at Publix, making sure cars did not venture onto the flooded roads.
"We've been at it since we got in this morning. Right now, pretty much the whole South side of Hendersonville is shut down," he told the Times-News. "The only way to get from North to South is going I-26 to Upward Road."
Mud Creek was the main culprit for all the flooding near the Publix, Mundy said. Bat Fork Creek also runs into Mud Creek, he said.
"It's probably not going to crest for a couple of more hours. It's just going to get worse. If you can stay home, stay home," he said.
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Mundy said so far they've had three instances where cars drove around the barricades.
"They went around the barricades and got stuck, and we had to go out and rescue them. The Henderson County Rescue Squad and the Hendersonville Fire Department have both been doing a great job," he said.
Rhonda Chislaghi, the public information officer with the Henderson County Rescue Squad, confirmed that the Rescue Squad assisted Hendersonville Fire Department with a total of three calls of people stranded due to the flooding. One vehicle in the water was at Ingles on Spartanburg Highway, and the other vehicle in the water was at Beverly-Hanks on U.S. 25 North, she said. The person who had to be evacuated from a building was on Grove Street.
"It started at 7:30 this morning. There were two vehicles in the water, and then one person we had to help evacuate who couldn't get out of a building," she said. "We'll have personnel on standby, and we'll have personnel there tonight to be ready for whatever nature throws our way."
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The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Henderson County around noon that was to last until 6 p.m. Floodwaters from both Mud Creek and Bat Fork Creek will worsen as the day wears on and considerable flooding is expected throughout greater Hendersonville, the warning posted by the NWS said.
Developing flooding was also expected on other tributaries of the French Broad River such as Mills River and Cane Creek and Clear Creek.
As of 2:45 p.m., Hendersonville and Henderson County reported the followed areas closed to traffic due to flooding:
Caswell Street between King Street and Grove
Greenville Highway/Spartanburg Highway/White Street area
South Main Street/South King Street
South Grove Street
South Church Street
Seventh Avenue near Davita
Dana Road at Tracey Grove Road
Meadowbrook Terrace - loop road closed from US 25 back toward Ingles
Chadwick Extension - Chadwick between South Grove Street behind Harris Teeter shopping center
Patton Park is closed
Oklawaha Trail is closed
Jackson Park is closed
Bill Moore Community Park in Fletcher is closed
Also, the North Carolina Department of Transportation reports that New Hope Road is closed between SR 1779 (Airport Road) and SR 1754 (Duncan Road). Motorists are requested to follow directions of on-scene traffic control.
Due to the potential rainfall of 4 to 6 inches, the city of Hendersonville was in a Level 3 Flood Alert, which means significant flooding.
Bill Martin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Greenville, South Carolina, told the Times-News the rain was expected to taper off around 3 p.m. Jan. 9. He said until that time, an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain was expected, which could cause more flooding.
Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at DHensley@gannett.com. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Flooding closes several roads in South side of Hendersonville