Lady’s Island, S.C. () — A couple residing on Lady’s Island is exasperated, wading through both water and frustration. They expressed to that their yard has been persistently flooded for years, yet they feel the county and state authorities have neglected to address the issue.

From a first glance, one might mistake the Lady’s Island property, owned by Mark Presnell and Carol White, as a pond or a natural drainage area, without seeing their house or shed.

The couple stated that their attempts to resolve this with Beaufort County and state officials have proven fruitless over the years, leaving them increasingly frustrated.

“Two good things,” White joked. “We have waterfront property and when there’s a full moon, it’s beautiful.”

Although they’ve found some humor amid their frustration, White and Presnell emphasized that this was not what they anticipated when purchasing their Lady’s Island home four years ago.

Two feet of standing water in the deepest parts has replaced their yard with an entire ecosystem.

They said it happens every time there is heavy rain.

“If you look around,” White pointed out, indicating their submerged yard. “Our dogs can’t go out. We’re worried about our drinking water. Pests. You can spot the tadpoles in the water. Mosquitoes. We can’t enjoy our own property.”

The couple said they live with the water for months before it soaks into the ground or evaporates.

“Last year during Tropical Storm Debby, there was standing water on our property from approximately Aug. 10 until early October,” recounted Presnell.

White added on, “You could mow the lawn finally on Oct. 30.”

After the amount of rain this past week, and early predictions of a possible hurricane in the next week, the couple said they fear the water in their yard will reach a new level of height.

“It’s terrifying because I don’t know what I’m going to do because I don’t know if the truck will get out of here if that happens. I shouldn’t have to displace because we have three cats and two dogs, and I have to take them if a storm comes. I can’t put everything in the truck,” said White.

The couple said the issue isn’t necessarily the rain, but poor stormwater management by the county and drainage from a ditch off a state-owned road.

“Were on an island, we understand there’s going to be issues,” said Presnell.

White added on, “What we don’t understand is how we’re supposed to maintain and manage the amount of water? Its 5 million gallons of water, we can’t maintain that.”

They pointed out two areas of problem they believe the water is coming from.

“The houses drain to the street, the street drains out to the state road, and then the state road drains south to, actually, Lucy Creek,” said Presnell. “But it doesn’t take that path because it’s been diverted to where it runs off at the cross under Middle Road into this vacant lot next to us.”

Presnell pointed out that the ditch lining their property off Middle Road is clogged. That road is owned by the state and maintained by South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT).

With the drain clogged, the water is washed into the privately owned property next door, which is within the county’s jurisdiction.

Presnell and White said they have called about this many times, and had multiple people out to property to access the issue.

“It’s not the fact that I’m not being heard. It’s the fact that they’re not taking action. They’re not doing their job, and that is more frustrating than anything, is that they just shrug their shoulders and try and convince us that it’s supposed to go that way, and it’s not,” said Presnell.

Presnell explained that he and White have been told that the water wouldn’t be able to be diverted unless an easement was granted by the private property owners.

“There was never an easement granted by the owners of that lot for them to divert state water through their property,” said Presnell. “They’ve tried to sell that property. They’ve not been able to get it perc since around 2007 or 2008.”

A perc, short for percolation, is a soil test that measures how quickly water drains into the ground. A test of this measure is crucial when a property relies on a septic system rather than public sewer.

did reach out to the owners of the private property, who said the land was sold back in February of this year. They said they made the buyers aware that they would have trouble getting septic tank permits.

The new owners are unknown, but the previous owners said the property is back up on the market.

Whether it’s due to the flooding issue is unknown.

reached out to Beaufort County Stormwater Management and was re-directed to the county’s PIO.

also reached out to SCDOT.

We are still waiting for official response to several questions pertaining to the property and surrounding area from the county and SCDOT.