SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Drenching rains along an already-saturated East Coast caused major flooding Thursday, drowning a woman whose car quickly filled up with water and prompting flash-flood warnings from historic Charleston to Washington, D.C.
An early-morning downpour dumped 4 inches of rain on Spartanburg in a short time, causing floods that submerged several cars. To the northeast, one person died and another was injured in a crash near Fayetteville, North Carolina, when a tree fell across an interstate and hit two cars.
Residents across the region were bracing for several more days of rain and a possible strike by Hurricane Joaquin — a major Category 4 storm that was walloping the Bahamas late Thursday and moving slowly toward the U.S. Joaquin could intensify damage around the region, but more rain is forecast regardless of the storm's path.
In South Carolina, 56-year-old Sylvia Arteaga was driving home after a night shift at Grace Management Group on Thursday morning when authorities said the floodwaters trapped her underneath a railroad bridge at the edge of Spartanburg. Below the bridge, the street narrows to one lane and cars have to alternate passing under it to let traffic flow through.
Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a news release Thursday that Arteaga's car flooded "to capacity" inside.
Hattie Palafox, a middle-school teacher and family friend, described Arteaga as a "very sweet, very kind, very loving" mother of 17- and 20-year-old daughters. Palafox said she had discussed the weather forecast with Arteaga earlier this week, but she hadn't seemed concerned about the expected heavy rains.
"She was very, very soft-spoken. I couldn't say enough about her," Palafox said after placing a bouquet of flowers at Arteaga's home, not far from where she died.
Palafox said she made it a point to keep up with Arteaga and her two daughters after her husband died of a heart attack two years ago.