Ways to help South Carolina flooding victims

The South Carolina National Guard has been activated to support state and county emergency management agencies and local first responders as historic flooding impacts counties statewide.

The South Carolina lawmaker on Wednesday morning visited A.C. Flora High School, where dozens of people sought shelter after the latest dam breach threatened their homes. But a few residents are still anxious about a second round of flooding from rivers swollen by the deluge.

Classes at the school’s flagship campus that’s attended by more than 30,000 students are canceled all week as Columbia and its surrounding areas assess damage from record-setting rainfall and the flooding that has followed.

In two of the most recent storm-related deaths, deputies said the pickup’s driver went around a barricade and plunged into the water at a 20-foot gap where pavement was washed out. “Particularly I am anxious about people who are most vulnerable”.

Gov. Nikki Haley said at a news conference that people in flood-prone parts of four counties should “strongly consider evacuating”, including the 10,000 residents of Georgetown.

The Waccamaw was expected to crest at 5 feet above flood stage in Conway, in Horry County, on Thursday.

“We’re holding our breath and saying a prayer”, she said. “We had so much rain, but the primary thing we were experiencing was the water table coming up through the bottom bubbling up from beneath the flooring”.

“What we are beginning to see is people are beginning to move hindrances and drive through them”, she said.

“Try not to let the sunshine trick you”, she said.

He also said it would take weeks to get a reliable damage assessment.

“We’re talking hundreds of millions (of dollars), maybe over a billion”, he said.

Lott says, “There is no danger of any dam break whatsoever”.

But Graham said the federal lifeline must be treated with care to avoid a “pork-laden monstrosity” like the federal government’s aid package to the Northeast Hurricane Sandy in 2012.