Union Man Says SCDOT Responsible for Flooding in His Yard

“Look I want the problem solved,“ said Tim Henderson as he stood outside his Union home.

What homeowner wouldn’t after dealing with flooding for 30 years. Henderson says his yard in turns into a lake every time it rains.  And if that’s not bad enough, with the water comes the trash.

“I have picked everything up except human remains…beer cans, bottles, paper, feminine hygiene products.“

Henderson said so much water drains onto his property that two years ago he installed a curb to direct the water to the back of his property instead of going inside his house. He said he’s been complaining about it for decades but no one will help.

“I pay taxes so why does the state have to dump everything else on me,“ Henderson said. “If I had the capability of dumping this much water onto somebody else’s property I would be in jail.“

Neighbor Ralph Moss said the water piles up in the ditches along his yard.

“You can see where the water is standing,“ said Moss as he showed pictures of the flooding. “That water stood there about 5 days.“

7 On Your Side took some of Henderson’s pictures to the South Carolina Department of Transportation Assistant District Maintenance Manager Perry Crocker. When we asked Crocker if what we showed him was normal he said, “If there’s a low lying area, yes ma’am.“

News Channel 7’s Dianne Derby told Crocker Henderson is worried about the water coming into his house. Crocker replied, “That’s why we are trying to look at some more permanent solutions.“

Crocker said he was going to send the results of surveys his staff conducted this week to engineers so they could design a plan that hopefully will to put an end to this problem.

“At least we got a starting point and if we keep on it maybe we can eliminate it,“ Henderson said.

News Channel 7 will continue to follow up with the DOT to determine how they will make a permanent fix to this problem.