People come together to help build bridge over driveway washed out by flood

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — The conditions Billy Youngblood, his wife and two other York County families have been living with following a November flood are hard to believe.

“It’s the new normal for us,” said Youngblood as he showed Channel 9 how he must get in and out of his neighborhood now.

They built a foot bridge to walk to their cars after a private road at the end of Jordan Drive was swept away.

But this week, some special people showed up and did a really tough job for free to help the families.

What happened on Nov. 12 was far from normal for the families. Youngblood said he can’t remember seeing that much rain fall in the 24 years since he’s lived on Jordan Drive.

In less than an hour, torrential rain wiped out the paved, shared driveway at the end of Jordan Drive. The massive metal culvert was tossed into the air like a toy, and chunks of asphalt vanished into the trees, which were carried down a rapidly flowing creek.

Russell Lanford had left that morning to buy dog food.

“It was like the Colorado River or something coming through here,” he said.

Fortunately, his car was not on the road when it collapsed because he was not home. Youngblood was also out that day.

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Now, both families have had to leave their cars on Jordan Drive and walk through the woods and over the massive pit to get home, which is 15 feet deep and 40 feet wide.

They cut down a large oak tree, which fell across the risen creek. They walked across it, carefully balancing each step to get to and from their homes.

The neighbors then built a narrow foot bridge, which connects one bank with the other, spanning a distance of 40 feet.

Running errands of any kind has been a challenge.

“You’ve got to tote two or three trips across this bridge just to get your groceries into the house,” Youngblood said.

The driveway is private, which is why the county and the state cannot help or spend tax dollars to rebuild the road. It would cost an estimated $75,000 to $300,000 to get the work done, which is money the families don’t have.

“I called everybody I could,” Lanford said. “Nobody can do anything about this.”

Mike Wallace, with the York Baptist Association and Bowling Green Baptist Church, stepped in to help. Wallace said he could not believe how the families were living day to day.

“I thought, ‘Oh my goodness! We can’t begin to touch this,’” Wallace said.

The association has helped with many relief efforts, including installing roofs, wheelchair ramps and other construction projects for those in need.

“This is so far outside our wheelhouse, but it became one of those ‘somebody’s gotta do something’ type of situations,” Wallace said.

He launched a GoFundMe page hoping to raise $10,000 to $15,000. Much of the labor will be free. In fact, a local company already gave 20 truckloads of stone to shore up the road where it collapsed.

“Different pastors have called me and said, ‘We have this man or that man who works for this company.’ People have come out and looked at it, and said, ‘We’ve got the equipment. We’ll be glad to do the work,’” Wallace said.

Then this week, about half a dozen contactors came together, volunteering to take it on, saving the families roughly $100,000. They laid the bridge, dumped loads of rock and carried in the guardrails and welded them in place.

Jack Mount does disaster relief for the York Baptist Association and heard about the need.

“God had a way of bringing everything together. Everything’s in His time, and everything’s in His order,” Mount said.

For the families who went four months, staring at a giant hole, their gratitude is as deep as the hole used to be.

“These men stayed out here for 14, 15 hours steady, stopping only once to eat,” Youngblood said.

By Friday, a concrete truck is going to come through and pour concrete all over the rocks to make sure everything holds together. Then gravel trucks will pour gravel on the mud, making it a solid, safe road to drive on for the families.

Several York County roads closed after heavy rain, flooding washes away streets Several York County roads closed after heavy rain, flooding washes away streets

Cox Media Group