Water Flows Into Fort Mill Homes

FORT MILL, S.C.,None — A Fort Mill neighborhood that flooded overnight was in a floodplain. However, that wasn't the case when homeowners first built there.

Eleven homes in the Cascades at River Crossing flooded when heavy rains in a wetland area behind the community rose quickly and water ran over an embankment. That embankment slopes right down to their back doors.

"From the kitchen through the living room, into every area, it was ankle-high," said Carol Cooper.

Every step she took on her carpet Monday morning looked and felt like she was walking on water-logged sponges.

"All the carpets are coming out," she said as she showed Eyewitness News a dining room table covered from end to end with family pictures. They were all drying out.

A lot of other homeowners and renters at the Cascades couldn't believe what was happening, and they were helpless to stop it.

"Everything downstairs is going to have to come out -- the carpets, floors, the sheetrock," said Rob D'Orso, who's lived there three years.

The odd twist is that many of the homeowners bought flood insurance, but only just months ago after getting a surprise letter in the mail.

D'Orso said when he moved in there was no talk of any possibility of flooding.

"it's going to flood. It could flood. You may want to think about flood insurance. There was nothing like that at all," he said.

Then, just this past August, D'Orso got a letter from his mortgage company that he showed Eyewitness News.

"It said, 'You are in a floodplain, high risk. You must have insurance,'" he said.

So Eyewitness News wanted to find out what had changed. Other neighbors said they got similar notices in the mail. One landlord who rents several units said he had to buy flood insurance too for the properties he owns.

Eyewitness News got some answers late Monday from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The FEMA regional office in Atlanta said that a new flood map of York County was completed on September 26, 2008. The agency has been busy updating flood zone maps nationwide after Congress approved such action about five years ago.

FEMA spokeswoman Jody Cottrill explained it.

"Some of those flood maps were 20 years old, and if new buildings are built -- homes, malls, stores -- all that concrete changes things," she said.

That's how an area like the Cascades community became what's now known as a "special flood hazard area," according to Cottrill.

She said FEMA sends out press releases and tries to urge community leaders to inform residents, but sometimes it still escapes notice.

"Many of those folks probably didn't know anything about this until they got that letter from their mortgage lender," Cottrill said.

Another neighbor, Eric Sabach, has only lived in the Cascades three months.

"I went to bed last night not even the least bit concerned," he said. "I thought, the homes are built, the inspections were made. We'll be in good shape."

Now, he and others wonder what can be done to prevent such flooding again. Fort Mill city leaders told Eyewitness News that Sunday night's flooding was extremely rare, even flooding streets that have never flooded before.

City leaders aren't sure yet what steps may be taken to prevent another incident.

Residents said they want more large drainage pipes placed in the wooded area behind their homes and possibly a higher wall put in place that could save their homes next time.

"What if a bad hurricane comes through the area?" Sabach said. "Maybe this is just something small compared to what we'll eventually see. It's something that's going to be in the back of my mind now every time I see a weather warning on the TV."

According to Fort Mill city leaders, the developer, Portrait Homes, was given approval to build without any issues back in 2004. At that time, county maps did not label the area as flood-prone.

WSOC