Two of the victims were found Monday morning near Lake Katherineon Shady Lane and on Teague Road, near Sun View Lake.
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The historic rainfall submerged lowing-lying traffic intersections around Columbia including Devine Street and Rosewood Drive and areas around Decker Boulevard.
The Columbia area is expected to get another 5 1/2 inches.
Water have only slightly begun to recede, but breaking dams have caused a few parts of the town to re-flood. The nearby Gills Creek filled up quickly and spilled all over the road.
The slowly receding water is hampering recovery efforts.
Kershaw County Coroner David West said McArthur Woods drowned after driving around a barricade Sunday night into standing water on a road in Lugoff, a community northeast of Columbia. More than 14 inches had fallen in downtown Charleston as of 9 a.m. Sunday. “We have a lot of damage to our roads, to our infrastructure”.
South Carolina emergency management officials are urging people to stay off the roads because of flooding around the state.
The Columbia, South Carolina, police department says officers and fire fighters are rescuing stranded motorists around the state’s capital city.
The governor spoke with the president Monday morning.
State Rep. Kirkman Finlay says the state did not properly plan for the possibility of historic flooding, even though forecasters warned of the possibility days in advance.
Heavy rains, perhaps as much as a foot in coastal areas, are forecast through Sunday.
Flash flood warnings, meaning flooding is imminent or occurring, have been issued through midday Sunday for an area stretching 150 miles from Charleston to the Midlands west of Columbia. And he expects Charleston city offices will be operating normally on Monday.
Roads and bridges are washed out across the state.
According to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, Palmetto Park Ridge, Palmetto Baptist, Palmetto Richland, Providence, and Dorn VA Medical Center may choose to evacuate.
Since Haley declared an emergency in the state, the Department of Public Safety has received nearly 2,700 calls for aid, 910 of them for wrecks, officials said Monday.
That interstate is being used as a detour for traffic diverted off I-95, portions of which are closed.
Lexington County also recommended voluntary evacuations within a quarter mile of the banks of the Saluda and Congaree rivers.
Water outages and potential contamination anxious a few city residents.
Due to water main breaks in the City’s water system, many residents are without water.
The City of Columbia is telling all 375,000 of its water customers to boil their water before drinking it.
Two members of the South Carolina Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team based at McEntire Joint National Guard Base say they have rescued between 25 and 30 people over the last two days.
Columbia and Richland County officials planned to distribute bottles of water at four locations Monday.
Henry Hickman, a firefighter from Myrtle Beach, said his most unsafe mission Sunday was plucking a man from a tree in moving water in Sumter County.
Dozens of people have been forced from their homes after a flash flood sent the waters of Gills Creek in Columbia rising 12 feet in 12 hours.
More than 40,000 people are without water and water distribution sites are being set up.
So far none of the hospitals have been evacuated. The facility has experienced multiple power outages and has been “inundated with floodwaters”, the agency said.
An online coverage map showed that power was out early Monday morning for more than 13,500 South Carolina Electric & Gas customers.
Richland County opened a shelter at St. Andrews Baptist Church on Bush River Road.
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A few businesses in Eastover reported looting, Richland County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Curtis Wilson said. University officials say bottled water was delivered Monday to several on-campus buildings, and students in campus housing were being encouraged to use stoves and microwaves and common areas to boil water themselves. South Carolina has eight rescue teams. “At this point we are not evacuating patients and are continuously monitoring the situation to ensure the safety of our patients and staff”.
