Kerry Fisher's family moved into their new home in Berea two weeks ago, but it wasn't the Welcome Wagon that came knocking on their door Thursday morning.
Between five and eight inches of rain in their neighborhood sent water through their home.
"We've just been squeezing water out right now and getting the mud of the house right now," Fisher said. "We don't know what the damage is gonna be on the house, and luckily we have the insurance that'll cover anything we need to do to repair it."
Cindy Vincent's basement took the brunt of the rainfall, but she said her insurance isn't going to be much help.
"I called my homeowner's insurance. I was told that it would not be covered because we would have to have a separate flood insurance policy. We don't live in a flood zone. We would never have a reason to get a flood insurance policy," she said.
Greenville County Councilman Mark Kingsbury said he wants to see federal aid sent to help those people whose homes were damaged by high water.
"We need to try to get this declared as a disaster area because clearly it is a disaster area. There are a lot of houses that are damaged, $30,000 to $40,000 worth of damage," he said.
Greenville County Public Works crews are going through the flooded neighborhoods to assess damage and condemn some flooded properties. Kingsbury said if the community is ruled a federal disaster area, matching funds from the county could be used to literally lift homes out of flood-prone areas.
Duke Power and Charter Cable both said they hope to have all customers' service restored by noon Friday. About 6,000 Duke Power customers lost power when the company shut down a power substation in the path of rising flood waters.
The substation ended up under five feet of water by Thursday afternoon.
Hundreds of spectators lined bridges and roads along the Reedy River to watch the normally-serene river rage out of its banks, carrying lumber and debris over the Reedy River Falls.
Greenville County water rescue teams performed 75 rescues Thursday, many to rescue people from water-surrounded homes in Berea.
Several businesses were heavily damaged by floodwater, even far from any river or stream.
"At first, I didn't think much of it because we usually get a little water out in the parking lot and it dissipates, and also into the bay back there, but, it just kept rising and rising," Taylors Windows and Screens owner Mark Nichols said. He said production might be stopped for up to a week to clean up and replace damaged machinery.
People who think they've never seen the Reedy River as high as it was Thursday are probably right.
WYFF News 4 meteorologist Dale Gilbert said the river level gauge stopped recording at 17 feet, more than twice flood level, and was still rising at that point. The National Weather Service said Friday that the river crested at 19.2 feet. The record height is 21.4 feet, recorded in 1908.
Much of that water will end up downstream in Lake Greenwood, but no problems have been reported so far.
See Images From The Greenville County Flooding
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