South Carolina officers on hunt for looters, scam artists after flooding

The death toll from the South Carolina flood is at 19 but could grow as more cleanup is done.

Sgt. William Buffkin, of the South Carolina National Guard, helps a family load onto a National Guard truck for evacuation from the Dunbar community of Georgetown, S.C., Friday, October 9, 2015. “After the news has moved on and nobody is talking about the 1,000-year flood anymore, United Way will still be here in South Carolina”.

Other bridges in the area are also damaged, so travelers on I-95 that would normally drive 74 miles from Interstate 26 to Interstate 20 are having to take a 168-mile detour through Columbia.

In her briefing to the media Saturday, Haley said railroads statewide have rerouted their loads and there are no freight transportation issues. About a foot of water pushed its way through their home, leaving a muddy footprint behind one homeowner said.

The latest fatalities include two people who were found inside a pickup truck that plunged into water at a 20-foot gap where the pavement was washed out in Richland County.

The city says customers north of Interstate 20 between the Broad River and Hardscrabble Road no longer have to boil their water before drinking it.

On Tuesday, Columbia saw its first day without rain since September 23.

“Stay off the roads today”, Haley said, concerned about possible dangers of saturated ground under already threatened roadways. “But we hope the quantities aren’t going to be great”, said Georgetown County Administrator Sel Hemingway, where floodwaters from four rivers are converging on the coast. “Things are about to get worse on the coast”. Homes were lost, lives have been taken and many still need shelter.

“It’s not a lot of additional rain, but after all that we’ve had, this is definitely what we don’t need”, weather service meteorologist Steve Rowley told Reuters.

Authorities say they rescued about 100 people over the past two days, majority from homes that were isolated by floodwaters.

Hundreds more reportedly arrived at the school on Wednesday for free cases of water after the storm left thousands of homes with no water or contaminated supplies, reports said.