Here’s what it looks like in Longs as the Waccamaw River rises

The ATV pulled two jon boats away from the trailer off S.C. 905 in Longs. The boats were loaded with clothes, furniture, even a deer head, and everything else that makes a life. Eddie Lightsay said his sister lived there and just had a baby a week ago.

Ben Bishop, the father, Lightsay and almost a dozen friends were helping back the house into a U-Haul trailer after they brought the stuff through about 100 yards of water as the Waccamaw River continued to rise Wednesday and threatened the road in front of the home.

“We’re trying to move my brother and sister out of their trailer before they lose it all,” Lightsay said.

One friend drove the ATV down to the house, careful to keep the driveway where the water was only a foot or two deep. The others helped hold the bags, boxes and everything else in place on the boats.

A number of homes had flooded along S.C. 905 as it passes north of the Waccamaw River. Heavy rains from Hurricane Florence are swelling the Waccamaw, and flooding is forecast to be worse than it was after Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Highway 9, the main route from Longs to North Myrtle Beach, was covered in water and closed Wednesday.

National Guard troops in large trucks went door to door and evacuated people from the Aberdeen Country Club along the river in Longs. Much of the golf course and the homes around it were under water.

Bass swam through yards, punctuated by the occasional water moccasin and at least one large alligator hunting in the bushes next to a small house.

Daniel Cerro and Lisa Garnish evacuated their home in Aberdeen. “It started quietly,” Cerro said. “The water just started inching up.”

The golf course had moved its equipment to the highest contours of the course as the water continued to rise.

“You just grab a couple sentimental things,” Garnish said before the couple got in their car and left the neighborhood.

Emergency vehicles with rescue boats and big National Guard trucks that could push through high waters drove through the roads around Longs and the northern areas of Horry County, helping people evacuate.

The Miami-Dade swift water rescue teams staged with other first responders at the Horry County Fire Station on S.C. 905 in Longs.

This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Here’s what it looks like in Longs as the Waccamaw River rises."