Our community suffers from a major, unsightly problem: litter. It’s everywhere you look: on the street, in parking lots, in the ditches, even in our neighborhoods.

All of this trash ends up somewhere, and for a large portion of Richland County, that somewhere is Gills Creek.

Gills Creek used to be a true community asset with clean water, abundant wildlife, even a swimming club. These days, it’s polluted with high levels of bacteria, mercury,and other contaminants that make swimming inadvisable if not downright dangerous. The most obvious problem, though, is the litter.

Workers with C.L. Construction demolish the Title Loans building near Devine Street on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Columbia. The structure stood as a reminder of destructive 2015 flooding.

As folks surrounding Gills Creek begin to build anew following this weekend's record-setting and devastating floods, we're getting a good idea just how the situation deteriorated so quickly.

Mobile users, tap here to see photos of the historic flooding.

Members of the Gills Creek Watershed Association posted an update on their website, giving us the first timeline of events that lead to around 20 inches of rain causing massive flooding in the area.