By Cynthia Roldan
Lawmakers are expected in 2016 to no longer ignore the state’s already weakened infrastructure, which took a beating during recent floods. Brad Nettles/Staff
Columbia - South Carolina’s lawmakers (click here) are gearing up for what’s going to be a “challenging” and busy legislative session.
Legislators return to Columbia in January, but recent damaging and
historic flooding has them facing a costly problem: coming up with the
cash to pay for South Carolina’s flood-ravaged roads that were already
crumbling.
Before the flood, the S.C. Department of Transportation estimated it
needed about $1.4 billion a year for the next 20 years to not only
maintain but also improve and expand South Carolina’s roads....
October 18, 2015
By AP
Photos (click here)
Columbia, South Caolina - Sampson Pringle (click here) stood on the roof of his stalled truck on an unfamiliar road in the pouring rain. With water rising around him, he told his fiancee not to worry because he saw help coming.
Two days later, after the historic flood waters started to recede, his body had washed up on someone's lawn, hundreds of feet away from his truck.
Pringle was one of 10 people who drowned in the flash floods in the Columbia area from Oct. 3-5. Their common denominator: All were in their vehicles, caught off guard by rising water in places they likely didn't expect to flood. Some were out trying to help others.
"Some were going to work. Some were going to someone else's aid. Some people were just caught by surprise. Unfortunately, they all ended up the same place," said Richland County Coroner Gary Watts, who investigated nine of the drownings. "Just stay off the roads when it might be flooding. Water is much more powerful than you might think."
The victims drowned on little-known waterways like Crane Creek or 25-Mile Creek. A few died on waterways so small they have no name. Their bodies weren't found for hours or sometimes days in the chaos happening across Columbia where an inch of rain fell every 30 minutes for hours and hours. Several smaller earthen dams broke, but engineers still haven't been able to piece together which ones failed first and started the chain reaction....
October 18, 2015
By Ellen Thalls
Northwest Arkansas (KFSM)- Historic flooding in South Carolina (click here) earlier this month has left over a dozen people dead and thousands impacted. On Sunday (Oct. 18), one local non-profit sent volunteers to lend a helping hand.
"I can't sleep at night, I have to be there," Volunteer Chadd Landress said.
Landress is one of 100 volunteers Sheepdog Impact Assistance has in South Carolina. Landress has already spent a week in the wreckage and came back to Northwest Arkansas to load more supplies for a second round.
"It's suffocating for the individuals, you can look at a house has mud in it in one room, and it's easy to clean, when it's through the whole house, it's overwhelming, where does an individual begin, where do they start trying to put their life back together?" Landress said.
Sgt. Maj. Lance Nutt is the president of the organization. He said this time their mission is a little different, because the flooding put a hold on immediate outside help.
"We are usually a chainsaw response team, going in within the first 24 to 48 hours and helping clear roads and debris, this one it's more of a humanitarian mission to just deliver some of the basics," Nutt said.
Landress said they'll be taking down water, food and other basic survival items. He said it's the least they can do to help.
"I'm torn to know that somebody is suffering, we're all military, firefighter, police EMT we've all been given such skill, such training to do this kind of stuff, so it's almost like a personal mission, we've got to go out there and utilize those skills, for the betterment of those who are suffering," Landress said.
Landress said the group plans to have volunteers in the disaster area until Oct. 25.
