Frances drenches Upstate

Officials look over the scene of a fallen tree on Highway 14 between Bethel and Adams Mill Road Tuesday. Staff/Patrick Collard e-mail this story More details Pickens County schools will open one hour late today due to flooded roads and downed trees, Superintendent Mendel Stewart said Tuesday, noting particularly bad conditions in the upper part of the county. "We need an extra hour of daylight," Stewart said of the delay, which applies to the district's 25 schools and two learning centers. "Everybody will be on a delay." — E. Richard Walton Related Online extra • Up-to-date weather information

Rain fell almost nonstop in the Upstate. With flooding possible today, residents may want to follow the lead of David Burzinski and his sons, who spent Labor Day weekend digging trenches, clearing ditches and rerouting drainage pipes to funnel water farther away from their house.

"Even with all of that, I still worry because if the ditch overflows, then we are in for it," he said.

A little after 3 p.m., the storm became violent. Tree limbs crashed down on roads across the county.

One limb blocked State 14 near Spring Hill Drive in Simpsonville, where the Highway Patrol had to direct traffic around the site.

Terry Ayers of Simpsonville said he was trying to move a few, shorter limbs out of harm's way so that traffic could get through when all a sudden the whole tree fell, brushing against power lines and just missing him.

"All of a sudden the whole tree came down," Ayers said. "I thought it was a firecracker or gunshot. If I had been closer to that limb, I would have been killed."

Flooding was the next anticipated problem, but the widespread rainfall made it hard to predict which areas will flood, said Harry Geriapetritis of the National Weather Service. No flooding had been reported in Greenville County as of late Tuesday.

Hardest hit Tuesday was central South Carolina, where weak twisters sporadically knocked around a few homes and trees before disappearing back into the clouds, The Associated Press reported.

Winds or a possible tornado injured three people and damaged 30 homes in a southern Sumter County neighborhood.

Three people also were hurt when high winds damaged two mobile homes near Gadsden in lower Richland County. High winds damaged several homes at Fort Jackson in Columbia, but no injuries were reported.

In Pickens and Oconee counties, several trees were down and several roads were closed. About 1,200 people had no electricity in Anderson County.

About 1,700 Duke Power customers were without power in Greenville County late Tuesday.

Including Tuesday's rain, the expected total in Greenville County by later today is about six inches.

"The issue is we still have large bands of rain out there," Geriapetritis said. "It's more of a steady thing instead of having a wall of water that comes up all at once."

That's better for people like Burzinski, whose house near Furman University was buried under 31 inches of water and muck from the July 29 storm. The water came all at once that day, and a drainage ditch near his house overflowed. But a steady, slower rain shouldn't cause as much flooding.

Two inches of rain fell from the dark skies over Greenville, according to the National Weather Service. It was far less than the eight inches forecasters had feared, but enough to keep the county under flood watch until noon today.

The rain started around 2 a.m. and continued light to moderate most of the day. By around 8 a.m., the Reedy River was starting to rise. Its flood stage is eight feet. Around noon, standing water started to form on roadsides.

Cleveland Park downtown closed a little after 4 p.m. as the Reedy rose to 7.5 feet.

Dozens of weather-related wrecks were reported on streets across the county Tuesday, according to law enforcement agencies.

The weather knocked down a power line at the Pleasantburg Drive and Rutherford Road intersection. The road was closed for about two hours.

A Duke Power transformer blew out, leaving parts of Haywood and Laurens roads without electricity for about an hour, said Lt. Mike Gambrell, Greenville police spokesman.

An overturned tractor-trailer blocked an access ramp between Interstate 385 and Woodruff Road, Gambrell said.

County emergency officials readied dive teams in case quick response was needed in high flood zones, said Scot Wendelken, director of Greenville County Emergency Management.

The Reedy River and Brushy and Gilder creeks had been considered the most likely to flood, but the July 29 flood showed that any body of water can rise up and cause damage if enough rain falls, he said.

Wendelken advised residents and businesses in southern Greenville County to review tornado plans. People should seek shelter in their basements, Wendelken said. Those without basements should go to an interior hallway or a windowless room beneath a small roof area, he said.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control advised owners and operators of reservoirs statewide to check their dams for structural damage due to the heavy rainfall expected.

County staff cut trees lying in the roads and cleaned out drainage ditches where debris piled up, said Paula Gucker, the county Public Works director.

The American Red Cross readied several possible shelter locations in case they're needed, said spokeswoman Ashley Engler. Red Cross volunteers also prepared for a possible cleanup.

In Pickens County, trees were down around U.S. 178 to the north near Bob's Place, between Table Rock and Rocky Bottom, as well as south between Pickens and Liberty, dispatchers said. Flooding closed City Lake Road, north of Pickens.

In Oconee, flooding closed Tabor Road, off U.S. 123 south of Westminster; Worley Road in the Earl's Grove community south of Seneca; Herring Road in Fairplay; and Barrett Way, between Westminster and West Oak High, said Henry Gordon, Emergency Management director in the county.

Powell Springs Road, in the Cleveland community between Westminster and the Georgia line, washed out, Gordon said.

Waitresses taped a closed sign in the window of a Huddle House restaurant off Interstate 85 near the Sandy Springs community south of Anderson when the electricity went out toward the end of the morning breakfast rush.

About 400 people in the Sandy Springs area remained without power at 5 p.m., part of about 1,200 people across Anderson County without power, said Rose Cummings, a Duke Power spokeswoman.

Trees and debris falling on power lines caused the majority of the outages, Cummings said.

• John Boyanoski can be reached at 298-4065.