Vehicles stranded under New Cut Road (FOX Carolina/ Oct. 1, 2015)
New Cut Road at Howard Street (FOX Carolina/ Oct. 1, 2015)
Flooded New Cut Road (FOX Carolina/ Oct. 1, 2015)SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina) -
Coroner Rusty Clevenger said a Spartanburg woman died after her car was submerged in flood waters at the underpass on New Cut Road at Howard Street.
Firefighters said they arrived to find four submerged vehicles in the area around 3:30 a.m. Thursday.
Firefighters said they found the victim inside one of car. They also found another driver who they were able to rescue. The two other cars were abandoned when firefighters arrived.
Clevenger said Silvia Arteaga, 56, of Poinsetta Street was driving her vehicle into the underpass when water overtook the vehicle and flooded the car to capacity.
Clevenger said emergency responders had received numerous reports of stranded vehicles at the height of the flooding.
"It seems we've had a number of instances this morning with the rain that we had that people became stranded in the water for whatever reasons and were able to get out, but this individual that we've got on the bottom of the hill was not," Clevenger said.
"We will be performing an autopsy later to confirm her cause of death," Clevenger said. "At this point in our joint investigation with (the S.C. Highway Patrol), we have no indication her death was caused by any other means. SCHP concurs with me that a crash did not occur before to cause her death. Please keep her family and friends in your prayers."
New Cut Road, Howard Street, and California Avenue were closed off while crews cleared the scene.
Flash flooding impacted much of the area after heavy rain fell late Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, closing several roads and washing away a bridge.
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