Governor Nikki Haley said Sunday as much as 61 centimeters of rain has fallen in some parts of the state on the southern U.S. Atlantic coast, making it the worst storm there in 1,000 years.
Small ponds have turned into huge lakes and tiny streams have become rivers. She appealed to people to not step outside just to take a look. Haley said much of the standing water contains potentially deadly bacteria, and even some rescuers who went to pull people out of floodwaters found themselves stranded and needing help.
Several major highways are shut down, including parts of Interstate 95 -- the key east coast highway running from Maine to Florida. Schools, businesses and state offices across the state are closed.
Three storm-related deaths have been reported so far, and President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency, ordering federal authorities to help state efforts .
Forecasters predict the rain in South Carolina will continue until Tuesday, but they say it will not be until the end of the week before water levels start to drop. They blame the rainstorm on a slow-moving front that is sucking in tropical moisture from the Atlantic Ocean.
The South Carolina storm is unrelated to Hurricane Joaquin. That Category 2 storm was passing near Bermuda Sunday after pounding the Bahamas with heavy rain and powerful winds.
voanews.com
4/10/15
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Collapsed bridges, swamped streets after South Carolina flood...
ReplyDeletePeople across South Carolina got an object lesson Monday in how you can dodge a hurricane and still get hammered.
Authorities struggled to get water to communities swamped by it, and with waterlogged dams overflowing, bridges collapsing, hundreds of roads inundated and floodwaters rolling down to the coast, the state was anything but done with this disaster.
"This is a Hugo-level event," said Maj. Gen. Robert Livingston, head of the South Carolina National Guard, referring to the September 1989 hurricane that devastated Charleston. "We didn't see this level of erosion in Hugo. ... This water doesn't fool around."
Much-feared Hurricane Joaquin missed the East Coast, but fueled what experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called a "fire hose" of tropical moisture that aimed directly at the state. A solid week of rainfall has killed at least 10 people in South Carolina and two in North Carolina, and sent about 1,000 to shelters. About 40,000 have been left without drinkable water........AP.....ctvnews.ca