19 people dead in flooding in North and South Carolina

“Rising water from flooding can carry viruses, bacteria, chemicals and other submerged objects picked up as it moves through stormwater systems, across industrial sites, yards, roads and parking lots”, the South Carolina Emergency Response Team said, per CNN.

In coastal Georgetown, residents are also concerned about new flooding on the Black and Waccamaw Rivers.

The rain has stopped in South Carolina, but for people living along the coast, the worst of the flooding could still be ahead.

Information for this article was contributed by Jeffery Collins, Susanne M. Schafer, Adam Beam, Emery P. Dalesio and Meg Kinnard of The Associated Press. “People are not out of harm’s way”.

Evacuations are still voluntary, but worsening conditions could warrant a mandatory order in a few low-lying areas along the river.

“You prepare yourself mentally for a great loss, but once you start plowing through things… basically you see the contents of a life irretrievably ruined”, Oliver said.

Haley has been giving regular updates at the operations center and has traveled to several other places to assess flooding and talk with reporters.

(AP Photo/Mic Smith). Anthony Johnson walks over the floodwaters in downtown Kingstree, S.C., Wednesday, October 7, 2015. Despite a setback involving efforts to plug a breached dam near the main water treatment plant, workers had already been working on an alternative plan to pump water directly from another location on the river, Assistant City manager Missy Gentry said.

Most homeowners do not have federal flood insurance policies, so much of the residential damage may not be covered by insurance, Bowen said. A large hole in the canal has caused the water level to drop too low for adequate pressure to the plant.

Federal disaster aid has been opened up for five additional South Carolina counties.

At least nine dams have breached or failed in South Carolina since Saturday, the state’s emergency management agency said early Tuesday. The action taken Monday made federal funding available to people in eight counties.

A company jet flew the three who survived back to Kentucky, where they met with their families and grief counselors Wednesday. Speaking of the rains, he said, “They’ve wrecked the dams; they’ve ruined all of the bridges”.

The death toll from the widespread storm that dumped more than 2 feet (60 cm) of rain in parts of South Carolina is at least 17, including people who drowned or were killed in auto crashes.

Andy Shain is covering the flooding for The State newspaper in Columbia.

Overall, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has said there could be a potential billion-dollar cleanup bill.

She and city uitlities director Joey Jaco said plans to divert water from the canal and the river were underway before the second collapse. Weathers says his initial estimate is conservative and could rise.

The pickup’s driver drove around barricades that had been set up to block traffic, authorities said.

“The president has declared South Carolina a major disaster zone”.

More than three times the amount of roads and bridges were closed in Richland County with just over 100 closed. Because of the possibility of a dam failure, the residents of the nearby Wildewood Downs area have been urged to evacuate.

At the campus of my alma mater in the state’s capital, Columbia, portable toilets and bottled water have been distributed, and classes have been canceled for the entire week.

But the multitude of waterways in Columbia also makes the city a prime target for flooding, as rainwater seeking to flow into a creek or river gets waylaid on the city’s roadways.

The dam is meant to create a reservoir that will raise the water level in the canal to a normal depth of 20 feet to 25 feet.

The problem lies with the Columbia Canal.