Woman dies after falling through kitchen floor into 48-foot well shaft below SC home

OCONEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A South Carolina woman died Sunday after falling through the floor of a century-old Oconee County house into a well that had been hidden from sight beneath the home.

The Oconee County Coroner’s Office said 83-year-old Dorothy Louise Downey was helping her daughter move from a home on Park Avenue near Salem when she stepped onto a weakened section of floor in the kitchen of the home around 2 p.m.

Downey fell through the floor and down a 48-foot well shaft the family didn’t know existed, according to Karl Addis, the Oconee County coroner.

Downey was eventually pulled from the well nearly four hours later by the Salem Fire Department and Oconee Emergency Services personnel.

“This home, according to property records, appears to have been constructed in 1920,” Addis said.

Both Addis and Emergency Services Director Scott Krein said they had never heard of a similar case in Oconee County, especially involving a well that the person didn’t know existed below the house.

Krein said it was common around the time the home was constructed to have a well installed in the kitchen. He encouraged anyone who notices a soft spot in the kitchen to have an expert come out to repair it.

“Even a fall of four feet through the floor can do damage to somebody,” Krein said.

Addis said that Downey died from blunt force trauma; her death was ruled accidental.