As rains dissipate, danger lingers
Historic deluge kills 12 people, causes power, water outages.
After a week of steady rain, the showers tapered offff Monday and an inundated South Carolina turned to surveying a road system shredded by historic flflooding, and in a cruel twist, thousands of residents faced the prospect of going days without running water.
The governor warned communities downstream, near the low-lying coast, that they may still see rising water and to be prepared for more evacuations. More than 900 people were staying in shelters and nearly 40,000 people were without water.
At least 12 weather-related deaths in two states were blamed on the vast rainstorm, with one of the latest coming when a sedan drove around a barricade and stalled in rushing waters. The driver drowned, but a woman who was riding in the car managed to climb on top of it and was rescued by a firefighter who
waded into the water.
“She came out the window. How she got on top of the car and stayed there like she did with that water— there’s a good Lord,” Kershaw County Coroner David West said.
On Monday, the rains moved north into North Carolina and the mid-Atlantic states. The storm was part of a system that dumped an unprecedented amount of rain across South Carolina and several other states. Satellite images released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show South Carolina getting drenched by a “fifire hose” of tropical moisture.
In the animation, Hurricane Joaquin pounds the Bahamas and moves away from the East Coast as a separate area of low pressure spins across the Southeast, unleashing a torrent of water over South Carolina.
Sunday was the wettest day in the history of South Carolina’s capit al city of Columbia, according to the National Weather Service.
The 16.6 inches of rain on Gills Creek near downtown Columbia on Sun- day was one of the rainiest days in the U.S. in the last 15 years, according to weather stations with more than 50 years of record-keeping. There was so much rain in Gills Creek, a water gauge was swept offff a bridge and had to be replaced by members of the U.S. Geological Survey.
“The flflooding is unprecedented and historical,” said Dr. Marshall Shepherd, a meteorologist and director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia.
He said the unique double punch of the upper level low — aided by a “river” of tropical moisture in the atmosphere from Hurricane Joaquin spinning far out in the Atlantic — gave the monster rainstorm its punch.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has said the deluge is the kind of storm seen only once in 1,000 years.
On Monday, she said 550 roads and bridges were closed across the state. All will have to be checked for structural integrity, which could take weeks or longer.
She said flfloodwaters will continue to rise in some areas as rainwater runs down the state toward the coast.
“This is not over. Just because the rain stops does not mean that we are out of the woods,” Haley said.
Haley, a Republican, also thanked President Barack Obama for a disaster declaration that frees up federal resources and for personally calling her Monday morning.
“He was extremely gracious and kind,” she said.
Haley said that nine people have died in the state since the storm started. Two additional weather-related deaths were reported in North Carolina.
At least three people were killed Sunday in South Carolina, including a transportation worker who died overseeing work near downtown Columbia, a woman who was swept away in her SUV and the man who drove around the barricade Sunday night in the Lugoffff community northeast of Columbia, the coroner said.
McArthur Woods, 56, drowned after his car was inundated. His passenger was rescued when someone who heard her screams called 911 around 10 p.m.
Haley said that 25 emergency shelters are open, housing more than 900 people. Utility crews, meanwhile, were working to restore power to 26,000 people, she said.
The flflooding forced hundreds of weekend rescues and threatened the drinking water supply for Columbia, with offifficials warning some could be without potable water for days because of water main breaks.
The situation required fifirefifighters from several departments to use a half-dozen fifiretrucks and pumps to deliver hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital in downtown Columbia.