Richmond Hill neighborhood reacts to flooding near homes

RICHMOND HILL, Ga. (WTOC) - Some neighborhoods are seeing water creep into yards and streets coming from the Ogeechee River.

On Mulberry Drive in Richmond Hill, a few lawns close to the neighborhood’s entrance are filled with water.

This neighborhood saw several feet of water during Hurricane Debby, and while this is nowhere near as bad as it was then, neighbors are still a bit concerned.

WTOC spoke with the neighborhood’s HOA president, whose yard is partially underwater.

He says in the 20 years he’s lived there, he’s hardly ever seen the river rise so much that water ends up in his neighborhood.

During Debby he says he had 18 inches of water in his garage, which luckily didn’t get into his house.

Now that the water is back, he says it comes as an unwelcome a surprise.

“The funny thing is after the heavy rain goes by, ok we survived the heavy rain, then it’s the after effect that we get. You don’t know what’s going to happen after the fact,” said Ervin Anderson, yard flooded. “Debby was a big surprise to the whole neighborhood. No one expected that. I talked to some homeowners, they’ve been here 20-30 plus years, and they said they’ve never seen this type of water before.”

This neighborhood is just down the road from Love’s Seafood, the restaurant that suffered extensive water damage during Debby.

The water continues to flood Chief O.F. Love Road and parts of the outdoor area at Love’s Seafood.

This restaurant had to close for three months after heavy floods got into the building during Hurricane Debby. They reopened just a few weeks ago on November 1.

The owners were forced to strip the floors and bathrooms and purchase brand new kitchen equipment.

This week’s flooding comes just a few days away from Love’s 75th anniversary celebration, which the co-owner says also serves as the grand re-opening for the restaurant.

As they get ready for such a big event, flooding is the last thing they want to see.

“That’s what closed us. I guess that’s what’s going to open us up, so we are just going to keep going,” said Love’s Seafood co-owner Donna Love. “You don’t want to look at it no more, you don’t want to see the flooding no more. Now don’t get me wrong, we love the Ogeechee River, and we live living on the Ogeechee River, and part of what we have is this. But, we’re paddling back and forth, we live right across from the restaurant and we have to paddle back and forth from the restaurant to get to work.”

In the past, Love says when the water has come this high, it’s only taken about a day or two for it to recede after the river crests.

She’s hoping that will be the case so they’ll be ready to celebrate the 75th anniversary on Sunday.