Boil Water Advisories

News19 crews had difficulty reaching the area because of all the closed roads.

Gov. Nikki Haley, though, emphasized the danger is not over.

The City of Columbia and Lexington County enforced curfews overnight on Sunday; they’re now lifted.

Officials already were in the process of preparing to evacuating sections of Kingstree along the Black River.

Roads and bridges are washed out across the state.

“The good news is that we are getting into the assessment and recovery mode”, Haley said.

“Just because the rain stops does not mean that we are out of the woods”, Haley said. “When in doubt, we close roads”, the governor said. However, schools and government offices across the Midlands are closed.

More than 100 roads around the Columbia area have been closed, said S.C. Department of Transportation acting director Christy Hall.

So far none of the hospitals have been evacuated. At Baptist Hospital, a firetruck pumped water needed for the facility’s chill systems, such as air conditioner and refrigeration units.

The state of South Carolina was hit by disastrous flooding over the weekend, and the emergency situation continues Monday morning.

Officials with the South Carolina capital city of Columbia say many residents are without drinking water because of water main breaks from the flooding.

At least five people, ranging in age from 24 to 78, died in vehicles found in flooded Columbia-area streets since Sunday, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said. They also say those affected should be prepared to be without potable water from the city system for three to four days.

While the water department was having its problems, the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant reported it was operating at limited capacity.

Power outages dotted the region.

Columbia Fire Chief Aubry Jenkins says one of his firefighters briefly disappeared while trying to rescue flood victims. Haley said outages were reported at about 25,000 home statewide. “Our heroes are our first responders”, Haley said, adding that President Barack Obama had called her and expressed concern for the state while offering any help she needed to fix things quickly.

A request for $5 million in federal emergency relief funds has already been submitted.

With thousands without water in Columbia, crews are pumping water into Palmetto Health Baptist.

However, all elective procedures and surgeries at the hospitals were cancelled for today and patients would be contacted to reschedule. “We’re all aggravated because we can’t get what we need”.

The governor said about 40,000 homes statewide were without water.

253 troopers on the road.

25 shelters now open housing 932 people.

600 S.C. National Guard troops had been activated and 500 are on call.

No major outages of cellphone service.

25 aerial rescues to date.