Rain-swollen South Carolina rivers prompt new evacuations
Published 10:17 am Friday, October 9, 2015
PLEASANT HILL, S.C. (AP) — A number of South Carolina residents near the coast are evacuating and others are piling up sandbags anew outside homes and businesses, bracing for more possible flooding even as the nation’s Homeland Security chief is set later Friday to tour areas hit hard by recent heavy rains.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson planned to travel to Columbia and Charleston during the day Friday to meet with federal, state and local officials and see the recovery efforts firsthand from what South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has described as a 1,000-year rainstorm. While skies are clear again after past days of rain, residents along or near the coast are readying as rain-swollen rivers reach the sea.
And there may be more misery on the way for the state. A storm system will stall near the coast this weekend, bringing as much as an additional inch of rain to some areas, according to the National Weather Service. The heaviest rain is expected Saturday.