Greenville weather: Flooding, outages reported across the area

Show Caption Hide Caption Heavy rain causes flooding, damage, outages across Upstate SC Heavy rain from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning caused flooding, power outages and damage across Upstate South Carolina.

Ten people were rescued by emergency crews Thursday morning as rising waters surrounded the building that houses Swamp Rabbit Cross Fit in Greenville.

Rescue teams strapped life vests on the building's occupants and used a pole to navigate them through flowing water to safety.

Heavy rain and high winds brought flooding and power outages to Greenville overnight. More than two inches of rain fell at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport between 6:53 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday, according to data from the National Weather Service at GSP.

The Greenville Police Department responded to multiple areas that flooded and traffic signals that were inoperable due to loss of power Thursday morning.

HWY 276 is shut down in both directions just south and just north of @FurmanU as @DukeEnergy & #PikeElectric crews make repairs to storm-damaged equipment. Route will be closed for several hours, please seek safe alternate routes to get around. pic.twitter.com/r4pmoQumFZ — Ryan Mosier (@DE_RyanMosier) November 15, 2018

Two vehicles were partially submerged in the parking lot of the Cross Fit building on Delano Drive off Mayberry Street. The building also houses a yoga studio, a co-working space and a new restaurant.

Keith Johnson, who works for a painting company that was there for the new restaurant space, was one of the first people to wade across the stream with the help of two rescuers. His work van had sunk into the water when he parked there earlier Thursday, forcing him to walk through standing water to the building.

"I came in easy and tried to stay on the pavement and one wheel just came off the edge and it just sunk," he said.

Jeremy Pierce, who works for a contractor finishing the new restaurant, also walked across the rising water early Thursday but was aided by rescuers to get back to dry land. Those rescued were handed life vests as a precaution.

"It's a little frigid, a little cold," he said barefoot. "I did eight years in the Army so I'm used to (expletive) like this. They would make me low-crawl through this. That's why I was smiling over there. They have to take their precautions. I understand. You never know."

Brandi Guthke, of Greenville, was one of the last people to wade across water with rescuers. She said her morning didn't go quite as planned.

"We worked out at 5:30 and then about 6:30 I looked outside and was like, 'Oh my God,'" she said.

Greenville Mayor Knox White stopped by the rescue operation to see what had transpired.

"This used to be typical during the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and then we had the big one that completely overwhelmed the area and then we haven't had one for awhile, but that's why we're building a park because this area is prone to flood," White said. "With the new redesign of the park, the flooding will be more natural because it will be tapered and it's intended to be a water retention area during a time of high water."

South Carolina Highway Patrol reported flooding on roads across the county Thursday morning. Other flooded areas in Greenville included the South Hudson Street Bridge and East Park Avenue in the vicinity of McPherson Park, according to city of Greenville spokeswoman Leslie Fletcher.

High traffic areas along Haywood, Laurens and Pleasantburg Drive had multiple traffic signals out, according to police.

More than 11,000 Duke Energy customers were without power Thursday in Greenville County.

Ask LaFleur: Coupons save consumers $3 billion per year, but how do they work?

Greenville Technical College's Barton Campus, Child Development Center and Admissions and Registration Center were closed Thursday. All other campuses returned to normal Thursday afternoon.