South Carolina flooding: Dams breached,

more trouble ahead

By Holly Yan and Ray Sanchez, CNN

Updated 12:40 PM ET, Wed October 7, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

At least 11 dams have failed or been breached in South Carolina, authorities say

More than 400,000 South Carolina residents under a "boil water advisory"

At least 17 people are dead -- 15 reported in South Carolina and two in North
Carolina
(CNN)The rain may have stopped, but South Carolina is grappling with a host of new
concerns. Dam breaks. Billions of dollars in damage. And rivers that still haven't crested.
"We still have to be cautious," Gov. Nikki Haley told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
"The next 36 to 48 hours are going to be a time that we need to continue to be careful."
Haley declined to provide an estimated cost of the damage -- which she called
"disturbing" -- but said state and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials were
making assessments.

"It's hard to look at the loss we're going to have," she said. "This could be any amount of
dollars."
More than 400,000 state residents were under a "boil water advisory" affecting about 16
water systems, said Jim Beasley, a spokesman for the S.C. Emergency Response
Team.
South Carolina flooding: 'We have lost everything'
Here's the latest on the mammoth flooding in the region:

Dam breaks
At least 11 dams have failed in South Carolina since Saturday, the state's Emergency
Management Division said. Another 35 dams were being monitored.
One failure, of the Overcreek Bridge dam in Richland County's Forest Acres, sent a
torrent of floodwater raging downstream and forced evacuations near Columbia.
Officials allowed water to breach at least one other dam, also in Richland County.
Officials conduct these controlled breaches "to prevent a much larger incident and a
much larger amount of water escaping from the dam," emergency management
spokesman Derrec Becker said.
Haley said National Guard members were helping with sandbagging operations and
other mitigation efforts.
So far, at least 17 people have died in weather-related incidents: 15 in South Carolina
and two in North Carolina.
At least nine people drowned and six died in traffic accidents, South Carolina's
Department of Public Safety said.
North Carolina reported two deaths from traffic accidents, in Cumberland and Jackson
counties, a state emergency management spokeswoman said.
Haley said there had been 175 water rescues so far in South Carolina, and more than
800 people were temporarily housed in shelters.
More than 70 miles of Interstate 95 in the state remained closed, with five to eight
bridges still awaiting structural checks, she said.
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Caskets float away

Of all the scenes of items drifting away in the flooding, perhaps none appeared as
dramatic as a casket unearthed from a cemetery.
Wayne Reeves, pastor of New Life Ministries in Summerville, was in the middle of an
interview when he saw the casket float away.
So he headed into the waist-deep floodwater to retrieve it.
"That's somebody's family out there," he told CNN affiliate WCBD-TV. "That's (a) family
suffering. That's their family there that popped up from under the ground. And I think it's
the human thing to do."
The casket, still adorned with white and pink flowers, carried the remains of a woman
buried in May, WCBD said. Another casket, that of the woman's husband, also drifted
away, but Dorchester County sheriff's officials later recovered it.
As it turned out, the woman's family was watching nearby as Reeves went into the
water.
"This family don't want to sit on the edge of this road all night long watching their family
members bob in the water like that," the pastor told WCBD.
"If that was my mom or my dad, I'd walk through hell and high water. And today it
happened to be high water."

Apartments looted

Some Columbia residents left their homes as victims of flooding. They returned to find
their homes looted.
On Sunday, an apparent dam breach led to the flooding of the Willow Creek
Apartments, property manager Heather Lovell told CNN affiliate WACH-TV.
So rescue crews in boats came to the complex and helped residents to safety.
On Monday, Pamela Courts returned to her apartment and found not just flood damage
but signs of theft.
"Overnight, we had a break-in, so whatever was upstairs they came and took: TVs,
jewelry, everything," she told WACH.

Resident Juamaame Evins told the affiliate he was trying to stay positive despite the
back-to-back hardships.
"Even though we lost everything and stuff got stolen, we can rebuild together and help
each other and be each other's backbones and carry each other through this time
because we need each other," he said.
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Rivers still rising

The flooding is far from over. Rivers might not crest for another two weeks, CNN
meteorologist Chad Myers said.
And the mayor of Columbia, who has said he believes damage "will probably be in the
billions of dollars," is bracing for more trouble.
"We aren't close to being out of the woods," Mayor Steve Benjamin said Tuesday,
adding that even more dams could be in danger of breaking or being topped by water.
"We still expect the water to start coming down from the Upstate, coming downhill to the
Midlands."
The situation is the result of a weather system that funneled tropical moisture into South
Carolina last week and refused to move on, Myers said.
"It was a garden hose that just kept pouring ashore in one spot, and that spot was South
Carolina," he said.
Flooding conditions could force the South Carolina Gamecocks to move Saturday's
game against Louisiana State University to Baton Rouge, University of South Carolina
Athletics Director Ray Tanner said. The school hopes to make a decision in the next day
or two.
The University of South Carolina has canceled classes through Friday, saying that
resuming normal operations for its 34,000 students and 6,000 faculty would "place an
undue burden on a recovering infrastructure in the city."