“Look at the proportion of that”, she said.
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“Nothing that we’re asking is because we think we are going to lose our water supply”, Gentry said.
Gov. Nikki Haley, speaking Tuesday afternoon, said the state remained in “prayer mode” but said the situation was improving.
A house is surrounded by flood water on October 7, 2015 in Givhans South Carolina.
To capture the extent of the devastation so far, Beau Chappell, a photographer for ActionNewsJax, obtained this aerial view of the flood waters in a community of homes in Columbia, South Carolina via drone. Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said he expected damage to be “in the billions of dollars”. “Eventually the floods will abate, but then we have to access the damage, and I anticipate that damage will probably be in the billions of dollars, and we’re going to have to work to rebuild”. The severe rainfalls resulted in the failure of 14 statewide dams, with 62 more threatening to fail.
“Move to higher ground now”. The school says it follows the schedule of government offices in Richland County, which are also closed. County officials suggested about 1,000 nearby residents evacuate as a precaution, but the earthen dam was holding after more than 3,000 sandbags and large rocks were dropped in to reinforce it.
The Weather Channel states at least 17 people have died due to the hazardous conditions.
It will take weeks or months to document the full extent of the damage, and to find out how much federal aid is coming South Carolina’s way.
The rain event has set records all over the state, flooding entire towns. Weather forecasters said major river flooding could continue through the weekend even though the rains have stopped.
If you’re safe where you are, stay there.
In Effingham, about 80 miles east of Columbia, the Lynches River was about 5 feet above flood stage Tuesday. South Carolina was slammed with historic downpours over the weekend as hurricane Joaquin drifted off-shore toward the Atlantic Ocean. A football game between USC and Louisiana State University was scheduled to be played in Columbia on Saturday, but it will instead be played in Baton Rouge.
Officials brought in bottled water and portable restrooms for the 31,000 students at the University of South Carolina, and firefighters used a half-dozen trucks and pumps to ferry hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital. Bottled water and portable restrooms were delivered to the students Monday morning.
Officials warned residents not to try to drive through or around standing water and debris that have covered many roadways.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said at least 16 counties had been declared disaster areas.
There was no water immediately threatening the homes of the people evacuated on Thursday.
Officials had closed a 70-mile stretch of the interstate, from Florence to the intersection with I-26. “And, it just kept rising”, Tom Doran, a home owner in Georgetown, South Carolina told the Associated Press.
UnConflicted is the small business advocacy blog of Frank Knapp, Jr., President & CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.
Emergency vehicles struggled to navigate the flooded roadways, and in many instances, they were only able to reach victims by boat.
He says people should donate to recognized charities and be wary of charities with names that are similar to nationally known organizations.
On Sunday, a Coast Guard crew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescued Cristi Mueller and her 15-month-old daughter from the roof of their home in Huger.
The power grid was returning to normal after almost 30,000 customers lost electricity.
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Haley met on Friday with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who traveled to Columbia and Charleston to take stock of the flooding response and recovery efforts.
