Heavy rain Monday and into Tuesday morning cause road closures and driving hazard across Lexington C

Lexington County, SC (Paul Kirby) – Heavy rains that started falling before mid-day Monday, May 18th, continued through the night and into Tuesday morning across Lexington County. These storms and rains brought sharp lightning and booming thunder as the downpours created problems with some streets and roads across the area. The latest figure from the National Weather Service showed more that 2 inches had been recorded in some parts of the state. The NWS reported 1.44 inches had fallen at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport over the past 24 hours.

By Monday afternoon, trees had fallen across roads near West Columbia. One was completely across Peachtree Rock Road before sunrise Tuesday, and crews had been dispatched to remove it.

Several roads also had to be closed in Lexington County due to the heavy rains which caused localized flooding. Fernandina Road in the St. Andrews area was closed at one point as were several streets and roads in The Town of Lexington. These included the 100 block of Railroad Avenue near South Lake Drive, and West Main Street at Ellis Avenue. As of 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 Lexington PD hadn’t advised if those were back open.

Rural areas also had dirt roads wash across their larger, paved connectors causing hazards for commuters where the two joined. This is especially true in the southern region of the county where there are very sandy soils. In many places the sandy soils not only washed into the paved roads, but also filled ditches causing standing water to be an issue as well.

The roads were still wet and slippery as the earliest commuters began travelling many streets and highways Tuesday morning. Across Lexington County, drivers should allow extra time for travel so they can drive slower and be cautious. At least one collision had already been reported before 6:00 a.m. on I-26 west close to the 111 A & B ramps that provide connections at Augusta Road.