Lynchburg residents return home after evacuating due to flooding

24 residents of an apartment complex were forced to evacuate Friday

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Nearly two dozen residents of a Lynchburg apartment complex are back home Saturday after being forced to evacuate Friday night because of flooding from record-breaking rain.

But this is not the first time emergency workers were called to the Sandusky Square apartment complex area because of flooding. Noticing water starting to approach his car Friday night, Alex Ratliff, a resident of the apartment complex, said it was time to move the family out and find shelter elsewhere.

“I knew I couldn’t back out,” he said. “I decided it was time to leave. If I didn’t have two kids and a dog with me, I probably would have just waited it out.”

But it was a good call because within minutes, water ended up engulfing the parking lot and the creek in the back of the complex turned into a river covering the whole backyard.

Battalion Fire Chief Kenny Turner said several basements in the downtown area also flooded and led to electrical shorts inside. He said the Sandusky neighborhood tends to be a prime location for flooding but last night’s storm was odd.

“I think yesterday’s storm was just a freak-type fluke,” he said. “The storm just kind of spun up and parked itself over the city.”

Ratliff showed 10 News several basement apartments that were gutted in the past by floods. He said if changes are made to the area he’ll continue living in the apartments, but if not, his family may have to one day pack it up and move.

Turner advises people to turn around when they come across water in the road because they don’t know how deep it may be, and a flash flood could take someone’s life in only a matter of seconds.


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Alexus joined 10 News in October 2020.