Forecasters say that a week after a storm that caused historic flooding in South Carolina, more rain is on the way. Evacuations were under way in several areas threatened by rising rivers or dam breaches.
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The governor would not estimate the financial toll from the record rainfall and flooding.
“This is not over. But in a situation like this, we are extremely grateful for where we are today and the response and coordination of the people here to most importantly, protect the public”. Rescue teams are also scouring remote parts of the state to make sure no people are left trapped inside their homes.
One of those cut-off communities was Manning, the county seat of Clarendon County, about 60 miles southeast of Columbia.
“The sheriff just warned me that if the house isn’t fully flooded yet, it soon will be”, he said, as reported by Los Angeles Times. But she says she can’t say how long that will take.
Rebecca Cox, right, and her daughter, Savannah Grace Cox, 8, watch her husband/daughter, Kevin Cox and family Dog Mack, go back into their home to retrieve food from the refrigerator on Woodland Dr.in Kingstree, S.C., Wednesday, October 7, 2015.
An important aspect of that rebuilding effort should be to update the state’s hazard mitigation plan, essentially the state’s assessment of its vulnerability to future natural disasters and the actions it could take to be better prepared.
Columbia was deluged by about 11 inches of rain over the weekend, its wettest days on record, the weather service said. In Horry County on Wednesday, she warned coastal residents to monitor rivers swelling during the next couple of days as the mass of rainwater works its way toward the ocean.
“The fact is that we’re getting six months’ worth of rain in two days that’s falling in an urbanized area”, Shelton said. They rely nearly exclusively on past history to determine the kinds of storms and natural disasters they should be prepared for.
The state Department of Transportation said almost 500 roads and bridges were still closed Tuesday morning.
Haley has consistently maintained this will be “a story of addition”, with more counties expected to be added to that growing list as damage assessors are able to see the results of the flooding firsthand.
Multiple distribution sites throughout the city and county have been opened to provide bottled water to residents who have been without safe drinking water since Sunday. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1,048 of the 9,275 bridges were structurally deficient before this storm. Thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes.
“God smiled on South Carolina – the sun came out”, Haley said.
Gentry said the city will soon begin receiving potable water from the towns of Cayce and West Columbia. The capital city told all 375,000 of its water customers to boil water before drinking.
As they waited for floodwaters to drop, officials also struggled to preserve Columbia’s water supply.
Fears that a dam might breach and swamp their Columbia neighborhood pushed Melissa Harrington, 56, and her 78-year-old sister to seek shelter at a local high school, where more than 100 people slept overnight on cots in a gymnasium. “There was seven feet (213 cm) of water outside and five (152 cm) inside”.
Jaco said he thinks the boil water advisory will likely continue into next week, though he did not predict an exact date when it might be lifted.
The image sequence below shows an area to the southeast of Columbia near Alligator Lake.
The lakes and ponds got so high, the dams couldn’t take it anymore, Shirer said.
Officials say electricity has been restored to all but about 200 customers.
As he spoke, water rushed through where the dam once was and a military helicopter circled overhead.
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Youngblood hopes things won’t be as bad this time as earlier in the week.
