Flooding in South Carolina

[Jims65cyclone]

You may have seen news footage of the flooding we had in SC yesterday. We are fine, but much around us is not. After more than 16 inches of rain in less than two days in the Columbia/Lexington area where I live, many roads and railroad tracks are closed due to washouts. There are a number of washed out bridges, and at least five ponds that I know of, some 10 to 15 acres, had their dams collapse yesterday. Other dams have collapsed today, or are in emanate danger of collapsing. At the point when they started opening the floodgates at Lake Murray (50,000 acres) just west of Columbia, the lake was rising at a rate of about 1 foot/hr. Flood stage for the lake is 360 ft, and they started releasing through the floodgates at 356.8 ft. This was in addition to the 5 turbines they had been pulling water through for several days in anticipation of this. All this water flowed into the Saluda River which merges with the Broad River to form the Congaree River in downtown Columbia. Several of the everyday routes we drive are closed due to washouts. The little creek at the bottom of our property that is normally 2 to 3 inches deep and 3 ft wide was a raging river with rolling rapids, 30 yards wide. Fortunately, our house is 50 ft in elevation above it. As bad as we got it, east of us was worse. Clarendon County is now three isolated islands due to washed out roads and bridges. Charleston got over 24 inches of rain in 48 hours, and, everything that’s gone through from here to the coast flows in that direction. Tristan lives in Moncks Corner, which is 25 miles due north of Charleston, and just south of Lake Moultrie (60.000 acres). I hope he'll fair as well as we did. We have some members in the Upstate, but they weren't hit as hard as the Midlands and Low Country. The high velocity flash flooding that caused so much violent initial damage here is over, but the rivers are expected to continue to rise for several days before they peak. Breaching pond dams continue to create localized flash flooding. So far, the death toll stands at 9, but that may rise as more remote areas of the affected counties are searched. We covet your prayers.
Jim
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img[/img]
[img][/img]
[img[/img]
[img][/img]

[Santa's Comet]

Stay safe! People don't realize how powerful it can be until it gets close and personal! Went thru one in the 60's . Left our house by boat! Then had a month to get ready for winter.
NP Dave

[ec164]

What a bad deal, stay safe and thanks for the reminder photos that the rest of us are very fortunate..............al

[comet guy]

Hope you all can stay safe. Are prayers are with you.

Robert

[albert]

We are thinking of this tragedy and how people will cope with it. My daughter went to Coastal Carolina University in Conway SC near Myrtle Beach and lived in that area for 8 years. When we frequently visited the "low country" I always felt that flooding would be a problem one day. I live in NJ and had to endure Sandy two years ago, people are still recovering. We live 15 miles from the ocean however there was still major issues around here. The one good thing is that events like this bring people closer together and you can see the true goodness in mankind. We pray that everything works out and there are no more casualties.

[caseville cyclone]

Jim I'm glad to hear you are safe and out of harms way!! When it is that close to home a person really has to be thankful that you are lucky enough to be at a higher elevation. I have a friend that is leaving Michigan on Friday and heading to Charleston SC and he owns a 180 year old home and I am thinking it is in the thick of the flood. I'm having breakfast with him tomorrow morning and I can find out if he has any news from Charleston,because I believe his daughter lives in the area full time. I hope she and her family are OK too!! Again I'm glad to hear you safe and hopefully it stays that way. Andy

[Tbart]

This disaster is an example of why we should be prepared and vigilant. There may be more trouble to come in S.C. I'll bet there are a lot of neighbors helping neighbors at this time of trouble. I can tell you there are a lot of prayers headed your way from Nebraska.

[Jims65cyclone]

Thanks, we need all the prayers we can get. The death toll stopped at 17 a couple of days ago, so hopefully they won't discover any more. It's a mess that's going to take a long time to get over. There are some 25 bridges that either collapsed or are severely damaged, over 30 washed out roads and another 60 that are still under water with unknown damage. More than a dozen large pond and lake dams have collapsed, with others being monitored. The outpouring of neighborly help has been tremendous. Some relief centers had to turn away volunteers because there were too many. Schools were out all week, and there were football teams going around helping people move belongings out of their houses. Recovery is going to be long and slow. They're working with the Army Corp of Engineers to see about erecting temporary metal bridges in some places, but many roads and bridges will be months if not a year or more down the list.

[Tristan]

Glad to hear that y'all are fine Jim. I live roughly 2-3 miles from the lake the way the bird flies. We were very fortunate but some as close as three houses from us were not. An acre of my back yard became a pond that came up just over my knees but the house, family and vehicles were fine. We had several bridges going out towards my in-laws and where some friends are wash out and our way in and out of the plant site closed for a bit, then the short way stayed closed a little longer, several of us had 22-40 mile detours. It was quite nuts. Our tiny little bit of elevation (can I say that in the lowcountry) kept us fine. We got some cabin fever since both ways into town were blocked for a bit as well. With the terrain of the mid-state, I know the flooding was worse in a lot of area's since there are low pockets that it can fill everywhere.

[Jims65cyclone]

TRISTON! Glad to hear from you, and glad to hear you weathered the storm without damage to you and yours. Yeah, the Midlands are hillier than you are which creates pockets that fill up, but it also caused channeling of the flows which focused and magnified the force of the flash flooding. That, combined with the multiple dam collapses and the release from Lake Murray really wreaked havoc here. I was concerned that you are "downhill" from here, and I knew it would be coming your way, even if it did have more flat area to spread out in. I knew you were in Monck's Corner, but didn't know how close you are to Lake Moultrie. We still have a number of roads and bridges out, but the Army has brought in 35 or so steel bridges that can be erected quickly to try to open up some areas temporarily while permanent repairs are made. We had another 2-3" of rain this Saturday, and the ground was so saturated that most of it ran off, creating some more localized flooding. The weatherman says we've got about two weeks of sunshine starting this week, so hopefully things will dry out. Good to hear from you, and stay dry.
Jim

[caseville cyclone]

GOOD LUCK Tristan and Jim our prayers are with you both!! Andy