{"id":28473,"date":"2015-10-05T08:01:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/historic-south-carolina-floods-heavy-rain-hundreds-rescued\/"},"modified":"2015-10-05T08:01:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T15:01:00","slug":"historic-south-carolina-floods-heavy-rain-hundreds-rescued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/historic-south-carolina-floods-heavy-rain-hundreds-rescued\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic South Carolina floods: Heavy rain, hundreds rescued"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBIA, S.C. \u2014<\/strong> Hundreds were rescued from fast-moving floodwaters Sunday in South Carolina as days of driving rain hit a dangerous crescendo that buckled buildings and roads, closed a major East Coast interstate route and threatened the drinking water supply for the capital city.<\/p>\n

The powerful rainstorm dumped more than a foot of rain overnight on Columbia, swamping hundreds of businesses and homes. Emergency workers waded into waist-deep water to help people trapped in cars, dozens of boats fanned out to rescue others in flooded neighborhoods and some were plucked from rooftops by helicopters.<\/p>\n

With so much water, officials said it could take weeks or even months to assess every road and bridge that\u2019s been closed around the state. Several interstates around Columbia were closed, and so was a 75-mile stretch of Interstate 95 that is a key route connecting Miami to Washington, D.C. and New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is different than a hurricane because it is water, it is slow moving and it is sitting. We can\u2019t just move the water out,\u201d Gov. Nikki Haley said at a news conference.<\/p>\n

One death was reported in the area on Sunday, bringing weather-related deaths to seven since the storm began days earlier. The system drenching South Carolina was part of an unusual combination of weather conditions involving a slow-crawling low pressure system meteorologists called unusually deep for this time of year.<\/p>\n

People were told to stay off roads and remain indoors until floodwaters recede, and an overnight curfew was issued for Columbia and across two surrounding counties. The capital city told all 375,000 of its water customers to boil water before drinking because of water line breaks and the threat of rising water to a treatment plant. Emergency officials said later Sunday that many in Columbia were without potable water because of water main breaks and customers may have to go without drinking water for three or four days. Meanwhile, nearly 30,000 customers were without power at one point.<\/p>\n

Local officials counted several hundred water rescues by mid-morning before Columbia Fire Chief Aubry Jenkins said in an interview that there were too many rescues to keep count.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get to everyone,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cBut there are places we just haven\u2019t gotten to.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the hardest hit areas in Columbia was near Gills Creek, where a weather station recorded more than 18 inches of rain \u2014 or more than a third of the city\u2019s average yearly rainfall \u2014 nearly all of it in 24 hours. The creek was 10 feet above flood stage, spilling floodwaters that almost reached the stoplights at a four-lane intersection.<\/p>\n

State forecasters said another 2-6 inches could fall around the state, and it could be Tuesday before skies are sunny.<\/p>\n

Vladimir Gorrin said he led his 57-year-old aunt through floodwaters about 7 feet deep surrounding her apartment near Gills Creek. He said his aunt, Wanda Laboy, waited several hours after calling 911, so family came to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very distressed right now,\u201d said Gorrin, 38. \u201cShe lost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

His aunt, who didn\u2019t appear to be injured, was heading with her nephew to his house in an unflooded area of Columbia, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to find my way back home, and every road that we\u2019ve taken is blocked or flooded,\u201d he said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

Emergency shelters were being opened around the state for displaced residents, and President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Along the coast, rainfall had exceeded two feet since Friday in some areas around Charleston, though conditions had improved enough that residents and business owners were allowed downtown on a limited basis.<\/p>\n

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said he\u2019s never seen flooding as bad in his 40 years as mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a record storm,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know the amount of rainfall that we have experienced is unprecedented. I feel very fortunate that we were able to get through this as well as we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least seven weather-related deaths have been reported since rains began spreading over the Eastern Seaboard, which appeared to dodge the full brunt of Hurricane Joaquin as it veered out to sea.<\/p>\n

The latest death reported was a woman killed when her SUV was swept into flood waters in Columbia. Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said the woman\u2019s body was found Sunday afternoon, about 12 hours after she disappeared in flood waters near downtown Columbia.<\/p>\n

Three people died in separate weather-related traffic accidents in South Carolina on Friday and Saturday, the Highway Patrol said. In North Carolina, a driver died on a rain-slickened road on Saturday, according to that state\u2019s Highway Patrol. On Thursday, a woman drowned in her car in Spartanburg, South Carolina, while a passenger in a vehicle in North Carolina was killed when a tree fell on a highway.<\/p>\n

In Florence, about 80 miles east of Columbia, Mary Gainey was told Sunday about an evacuation order for her neighborhood along a rising creek. \u201cI\u2019ve been rushing around, making sure I have everything I need,\u201d said the 65-year-old Gainey.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s going to stay at her daughter\u2019s house until the water recedes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve had to be evacuated,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s strange leaving everything behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials were imposing a 12-hour curfew across Richland and Lexington counties.<\/p>\n

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott called it a common-sense curfew. Anyone not facing an emergency situation needs to stay off the roads between 6 p.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday. He says law enforcement officers \u201cwill stop you and make you go home or somewhere else.\u201d He stresses that \u201cthis is not a time for anybody to be a spectator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin says anyone who doesn\u2019t take the flooding seriously risks not only their lives, but the lives of first responders. He says flooding levels are difficult enough to judge in the daytime.<\/p>\n

Other cities across the Midlands have also issued curfews. Sumter has announced a curfew of 7 p.m.Sunday to 7 p.m. Monday.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina; Mitch Weiss in Greenville, S.C.; Jonathan Drew in Durham, N.C.; and Susanne Schafer in Columbia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLUMBIA, S.C. \u2014 Hundreds were rescued from fast-moving floodwaters Sunday in South Carolina as days of driving rain hit a dangerous crescendo that buckled buildings and roads, closed a major East Coast interstate route and threatened the drinking water supply for the capital city. The powerful rainstorm dumped more than a foot of rain overnight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":28474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-28473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28473"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=28473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}