Stay safe and away from that high water. I know at work, we've been holding all shipments going to that area. Didn't know anything about it until the news this morning.
Stay safe and away from that high water. I know at work, we've been holding all shipments going to that area. Didn't know anything about it until the news this morning.
spitfirebill wrote:AntiArrhythmic wrote: That does suck. Maybe she can get some FEMA money.. Our Saviour Obama declared it a state of emergency. I'm guessing a lot of people will be in the same boat (no pun intended)I hope so. But remember how well things went in NJ after Sandy.
This will be interesting in seeing what the Fed can do as all of SC congressional reps voted against Sandy aid...
Daily check in, AntiArrhythmic, you still with us?
We got nothing like Columbia, SC got hit with and they cancelled schools today. They are using the high school as a shelter for those whose houses flooded.
Floods suck 
Hope everyone is staying safe.
This is fitting.
Still here! A few more dams broke last night. Luckily my house is on higher ground. As someone else said falling trees due the saturated ground is concerning.
Hang in there.
Finally got internet back last night. I got up early Sunday morning, the power was off (seems it went out around 5 am) so no coffee or morning news. Looked around the house, some water had seeped in at the lowest point (another reason I don't like slab anything except a garage). All my landscape timbers had washed down to the downhill side of my yard, looked like giant Pick-up-Stix. Got in the Xterra to chase coffee and a newspaper, feeling all sorry for myself. Then I saw this:
5 houses down on the opposite side of the road. 
That boat is floating. There's a Prius and a Grand Am in the garage, the guy got his GMC pickup moved before the water got too high. On the other side of the garage, the water was up to the eaves, his front door was completely underwater. The street on the other side of the creek:
Suddenly my problems are really small. So far all the family/friends I've heard from weathered this thing pretty well; I'm just glad they are OK. It could have been so much worse. From personal experience, up here this is worse damage than Hugo did back in 1989 and that's saying a lot.
As of this morning, the water has receded back to about normal, there's a metric E36 M3-ton of small bridges that are unsafe and one of them is just around the corner from me. The police have it blocked off, it seems that the bridge looks fine but two of the supports under it have had all the earth washed away and they are just dangling.
The news media is, if anything, underreporting this. There are a LOT of small poor community enclaves around here, almost too many to count. So far five bodies have been recovered from cars just in the Columbia area, as the waters continue to recede and EMS etc get to these little communities it's bound to rise.
It appears that Nikki Haley (governor) declared a state of emergency before this thing ever hit and the positive part of that is that people whose insurance doesn't cover flooding can now get FEMA assistance. Good on her.
secretariata mentioned the Lake Murray dam; I live about two miles from it as the crow flies. SCE&G opened the spillways on Sunday, they say it's the first time they've had to do that since 1969.
The Gervais Street bridge normally:
.jpg/421px-Gervais_Street_Bridge,_Gervais_Street_spanning_Congaree_River,_Columbia_(Richland_County,_South_Carolina).jpg){kind=spacer}
and during the flooding:
The levee between the Congaree River and the Columbia Diversion Canal broke sometime on Sunday. The upshot is this contaminated the city water system, everyone is on a 'boil water' regime until further notice. There's also all kinds of water moccasins, rattlesnakes etc that have been displaced by the flooding so you gotta be careful where you stick your hands.
Glad you and yours are ok. I feel for your neighbors!
Margie
Curmudgeon wrote: There's also all kinds of water moccasins, rattlesnakes etc that have been displaced by the flooding so you gotta be careful where you stick your hands.
...I'm so glad I live in Michigan right now.
BlueInGreen44 wrote:Curmudgeon wrote: There's also all kinds of water moccasins, rattlesnakes etc that have been displaced by the flooding so you gotta be careful where you stick your hands.
Yeah, they had something on the news last night about fire ants floating in large groups
Well, we are starting damage assessments for public infrastructure. I'm on one of a number of teams helping local governments to evaluate repair/replacement cost estimates for transportation infrastructure. Primarily we are trying to help them to determine if they qualify for aid from FEMA. Today was our first day out looking at locations. I may be able to share some photos later without identifying the locations.
It may be days before we can start in the coastal areas because they are getting hammered again with the water from upstream.
Curmudgeon wrote:
I crossed the Broad on 34 between Newberry and Fairfield Counties, the Saluda on I-20, the Broad on Blossom St and I-126 on Monday and all were incredibly high. The water at the Gervais St. bridge (as seen from Blossom St.) was down a couple of feet from the photo you linked. We could see most of the arches almost down to where they meet the piers.
Boil water advisory was lifted for a lot of NW Richland and NE Lexington Counties that are fed from the Lake Murray water treatment plant. Thankfully that includes me (& probably Curmedgeon).
Yeah, snakes and fire ant rafts are a concern for my next few days at work...
We all still here?
BlueInGreen44 wrote:Curmudgeon wrote: There's also all kinds of water moccasins, rattlesnakes etc that have been displaced by the flooding so you gotta be careful where you stick your hands.
Give it a few months! 
The financial impact from property damage is staggering. Also, I think 9 people have died. It seems that most of the deaths are from people making bad decisions. I work in the ER in Camden SC, and had to call out Sunday since I live in downtown Columbia. I was able to return to work last night and got caught up on some stories of what I missed. Apparently, a man and his wife decided to drive around a barricade and right into some rushing water. The wife was able to get out of the window and cling to the top of the car for several hours until she was rescued. The man didn't make it out of the car, and rescue workers weren't able to recover his body until several days later when the water receded.
Also, I stopped boiling the water yesterday. So far no dysentery.
www.fitsnews.com/2015/10/08/columbia-sc-water-situation-worse-than-reported/. Apparently Columbia could run out of water by Monday...
I bought a bunch of bottled water for drinking, coffee etc so no problems here- yet. There's a bunch of houses in my 'hood that have been gutted, piles of insulation sheetrock etc everywhere.
I made a (super secret )road trip to Chucktown yesterday, most of the city is back to normal except James and Johns Islands. The various creeks and swamps along I-26 were slam full, you could see veritable lakes on both sides of the highway. I've lived here all my life and never see that before. My buddies around Highway 61 say there were isolated floodings but nothing like my neighborhood saw, considering how low that area is (averages ~ 7 feet above sea level) that's amazing. I-95 north was still closed, there's a bunch of bridges in that stretch which will need thorough examination before the Highway Patrol will give a thumbs up.
Diversion Canal breach:
That's a popular place for local runners, looks like that's off for a while.
Rufledt wrote: In reply to neon4891: PM sent :) i have some advice i learned from my realtor.
Care to share with more folks?
I talked my sister into leaving her house in south Georgetown county. She was supposed to leave earlier tonight but sent me txt indicating she leaving at daybreak . Mapping out a route for her from all of the broke bits of information was . . . interesting.
Mrs. Zero and I went out yesterday for some bottled water and eats. Since she is allergic to everything, we didnt want to take chance on the water . . .
If any of you Cola folks need a hand, let me know. I have one of them Yahoo accounts that don't permit PM's, but you can call or text me at Six-Oh-8-Oh-two-niner-7. We're in really good shape on the homefront, so if I'm not at work I can give a helping hand whether that is trying to bring food/water/etc or labor, just let me know.
mtn wrote:Rufledt wrote: In reply to neon4891: PM sent :) i have some advice i learned from my realtor.Care to share with more folks?
Its regionally specific. Flooding isnt the only problem here, decades of industry poisoned some areas of the town and people trying to sell homes don't always want people knowing which ones have carcinogenic fumes seeping up into the basements... if only it was radon, it wouldnt be so bad...
Also all the mold, the flooding caused a lot to be sure, but we have a very damp microclimate and mold is everywhere!
Updated info for folks in SC that need to get around. SCDOT has a .KML file on their website that you can download and see all the closed roads and bridges in Google Earth. All you have to do is download the file onto a computer that has Google Earth installed (or download Google Earth and then the .KML file) and double click on the .KML file. The file was updated at 3 pm today, so it should be current.
Linky to SCDOT website
johndej wrote:BlueInGreen44 wrote:Yeah, they had something on the news last night about fire ants floating in large groupsCurmudgeon wrote: There's also all kinds of water moccasins, rattlesnakes etc that have been displaced by the flooding so you gotta be careful where you stick your hands.
They will do that, the little bastards. After just a good soaking like we got, they build the mounds up tall to get out of the soaked ground.
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