For many Summerville residents who live on South Main Street, they share this sentiment:
“If I didn't have to worry about every time it rained hard. I'd be happy,” Resident Todd Hibbard said.
The combination of recent rain in the Lowcountry and extra precipitation during hurricane season has caused flooding to become a major issue.
ABC News 4 recently covered the flooding issue in district one of Summerville near Warring Street. But the problem is just as prevalent in district two.
The director of public works in Summerville, Russ Cornette, said that this problem occurs because of the location of the town.
“We get these really high intensity, rainfall events in short periods of time that really overload overburdened the existing drainage system that we have all around town. And unfortunately, the system isn't large enough to handle the volume of water," Cornette said.
The neighborhood is located on a six foot decline from Main Street, which causes the flooding to rush downhill at high speeds and finding its way into backyards and surrounding properties.
The current is so strong that some residents joke that it may be faster to travel by boat.
“The current, if you had a canoe you could go from second to third and lickety split. It's just really bad,” Summerville resident Lisa Hammerlee said.
When large rainfalls come it leaves many residents to pick up the pieces and take it into their own hands to stop the flooding.
“I'm out here in the rain with a pitchfork trying to move pine straw to get the water to go somewhere,” Hubbard said.
Something that is an unpleasant feeling for many neighbors.
“I just feel upset. I just know. I know it's going to be harming all of my neighbor's property, it's going to be harming mine, I'm going to have a huge mess to clean up and and it's getting worse and worse and worse,” Hammerlee said.
But on top of the nuisance that the flooding is causing to these Summerville residents it is also doing damage to many of their properties.
One resident estimated it might take anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 to fix the damage to their property that this flooding has caused.
“I've had to have boards replaced on the bottom of my shed,” Summerville resident Cathy Lawter said.
“So the back of my car carports rotted out. I have tools in my shed that have been flooded out,” Hubbard said.
“It's just ruining property. And no one likes to see their property being ruined,” Hammerlee said.
All three of these neighbors said that they have been reaching out to the town for help since 2019 and have received little to no response until recently.
Another cause for frustration in this small town.
“We shouldn't get floods like that every time. We shouldn't have to clean up like that every time we shouldn't have to repair damage every time, you know when shouldn't have to try to get flood insurance. I mean, we just shouldn't have to do any of that,” Lawter said.
However, Cornette says that the town is aware of the problem and now working towards a solution.
This includes helping the upkeep of local drain pipes, adding more drain outlets and he said he would considering doing more if those methods do not work.
“The town is in process of several drainage projects and different stages of development.”
ABC News 4 also reached out to District Two council member in Summerville Terry Jenkins, who said in part “We are really trying to get it to where the flooding that is being caused doesn’t get into people’s homes. Having people call, reaching back quickly, finding out where they are, making sure you keep the drain hole covers cleans.”
The one thing these town officials emphasized was that it was going to take time to fix the problem.
However, for Lawter, she wants something a little different.
“Just acknowledgement? I mean, not wait 60 days to respond to something, or just make it a little easier process?" Lawter said.
Lawter and her neighbors said that when they notified the town that they were going to have a reporter come cover the story that is when the town stepped in and came to the property.
She did applaud Jenkins and Cornette for their work when they got to her property and say they hope to have solution in the near future.