Taking Stock of South Carolina’s Historic '1,000 Year' Floods

Although heavy rains were tapering off, historic flooding continued to inundate parts of South Carolina on Monday, closing hundreds of roads and bridges, breaching dams and leaving thousands of people without drinking water and electricity.

Floodwater poured into homes and left vehicles submerged, as segments of Interstate 95 were shut down. By around 9 p.m. on Monday, at least 11 people had died in weather-related incidents, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.

The record-breaking rains that led to the flooding were caused by a low-pressure system that mixed with moisture associated with Hurricane Joaquin. Late last week, Joaquin savaged the Bahamas. The storm was weakening as it moved north over the Atlantic on Monday. It was not on track to make landfall in the U.S.

“South Carolina has gone through a storm of historic proportions,” Gov. Nikki Haley said at a mid-day press conference on Monday. “It has gone through a storm that has never happened before.”

“Having said that, South Carolina is moving,” she added, “we’ve got all the people we need.”

Some of the hardest hit areas were in and around the capital city of Columbia, which is located in the central part of the state and has about 132,000 residents.

Haley explained that South Carolina was starting to shift from response mode, toward damage assessment and recovery efforts. But she cautioned that serious hazards remain.

“This is dangerous, this is very real,” the governor said.

That was evident later Monday afternoon when there were widespread reports that the Overcreek Bridge dam at Rockyford Lake had failed. The dam is located northeast of Columbia, near the city of Forest Acres. A mandatory evacuation order was issued for areas downstream of the dam.

Meanwhile, providing South Carolinians with potable water had become a pressing challenge.

There were about 40,000 people without water, according to Haley. She said that officials had plans to open four water distribution centers before the end of the day in Richland County, where Columbia is located, and that six more were set to open around the state tomorrow.

About 550 roads and bridges were closed and roughly 26,000 people were without power, the governor said. On the upside, no hospitals have had to evacuate, and cellphone outages had only been sporadic.

Haley, a Republican in her second term, said that she received a phone call from President Obama just before the mid-day news conference. "He was extremely gracious and kind," she said.

Federal officials permitted the state to make a verbal request for a major disaster declaration in order to speed up the process. That declaration request will initially cover 11 counties, but Haley said that number would likely change.

Rainfall amounts in Columbia on Sunday were record-breaking, according to the National Weather Service’s office there.

As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, 6.71 inches of rain had come down, breaking the previous one-day record of 5.79 inches. Combined with the Saturday’s rainfall, precipitation totaled 10.28 inches, breaking the two-day rainfall record as well.

Rainfall totals exceeding 20 inches were observed in the central part of the state between last Friday morning and Monday morning.

Describing the weather conditions, Haley said on Sunday: "We are at a 1,000-year level of rain."

On Monday morning, the National Weather Service warned that while precipitation would generally be light throughout the day, significant flooding would continue and flood warnings remained in place for a number of rivers in the state.

According to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control had been contacted by dam operators about several dams that had failed, or been overtopped.

Assisting with rescue and recovery efforts were 1,300 National Guard troops, Haley said. She also noted that the National Guard had carried out at least 25 aerial rescues, and that 7,000 more troops were on alert.

The governor also said during the Monday news conference that 150 water rescues had been carried out by the state’s Department of Natural Resources, and that 932 people were being housed in 25 shelters.

First responders in Columbia were planning to carry out door-to-door search and rescue missions on Monday, according to the city’s police department.

While the flooding was severe in and around Columbia, other parts of the state were also affected by the heavy rains, including those on the coast. The Charleston peninsula was closed to traffic over the weekend, as about 17 inches of rain fell at the city's airport during the four-day period ending Monday morning. Although the peninsula was reopened by Monday, dozens of street closures remained in effect due to flooding.

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety released information Monday night that said, of the eleven confirmed deaths in the state, seven were drownings and four were traffic fatalities.

Earlier in the day, the department's director, Leroy Smith, said five of those deaths had involved people who drowned after driving their vehicles into standing water.

Evacuations were expected to continue as the floodwaters drained away from the central part of the state, known as the Midlands. “The biggest challenges that we face is following the wave of the water from the Midlands down to the coast,” Governor Haley said.

“Just because the rain stops,” she added, “we are not out of the woods.”

By late afternoon, Florence County, located approximately 90 miles east of Columbia, issued a mandatory evacuation order for areas along the Lynches River which, according to the National Weather Service, will likely rise overnight.

This post was updated at 11:45 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 5 to include new information about the number of people who had died in weather-related incidents.