Sobering before and after pictures show extent of South Carolina flooding

My non-scientific observation is that the major river running alongside Columbia, the Congaree, had not risen so high since 1936.

(Janet Blackmon Morgan/The Sun News via AP). Both drain into Georgetown County. The Carolinas saw sunshine Tuesday afte… Despite an improving forecast, it will still take weeks for the st…

Gov. Nikki Haley took an aerial tour of areas near the coast and warned coastal residents to monitor rivers swelling during the next couple of days as the mass of rainwater works its way toward the ocean. Like a few in his Columbia neighborhood, Oliver doesn’t have flood insurance.

Residents of South Carolina are bracing for more evacuations in areas near dams and swollen waterways across the state.

The cost of the floods is estimated to be about $1 billion.

At least 17 people in South Carolina and North Carolina have died in the storm. The university says more than 80,000 fans expected for the game in Columbia would have put too much stress on weakened infrastructure.

It is feared that more abandoned animals will be found once the flooding tapers, according to Newsweek.

Officials warned residents not to try to drive through or around standing water and debris that have covered many roadways.

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. “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”. “Until the waters fully recede and homeowners and businesses can take a complete assessment of the damage, we won’t know for sure the ultimate price tag”.

Haley planned to travel to the four counties Thursday afternoon. “As we rebuild post-flood, something we need to acknowledge is that although this is the kind of thing that never, ever happens here – a true “perfect storm” of rare weather conditions – South Carolina is also built up, at this writing, into a place unlike what lay here before”, she wrote.

Three others inside the truck were able to escape to safety, said Lieutenant Curtis Wilson. “We’re here supporting the governor”. Thirteen dams have failed, she also said.

Columbia resident Mena Gardiner was picking up cases of free drinking water Thursday and said she was anxious about losing water completely.

Haley says state wildlife officials have made at least 600 rescues during the flooding that has ravaged the state. Second, she says the inspections the employees can perform are not being done often enough, especially on the state’s 180 dams labeled as “high hazard”.

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.

“We aren’t close to being out of the woods”, Mayor Steve Benjamin said Tuesday, adding that even more dams could be in danger of breaking or being topped by water. After that, everything left behind will be thrown out so crews can clean up and fix the flood damage. Now, his fields 60 miles south of Columbia in Branchville are filled with water.

The pickup’s driver drove around barricades that had been set up to block traffic, authorities said. Teams searched the area in rescue boats and dive gear.

City officials said late Wednesday that customers in the town of Chapin and nearby areas no longer have to boil water before drinking or cooking after tests showed samples were safe.

As of October 8, Interstate 95 was closed between Exits 119 to 132 and approximately 250 roads and 100 bridges remained closed. “And, it just kept rising”, Tom Doran, a home owner in Georgetown, South Carolina told the Associated Press.