COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Carolinas saw sunshine Tuesday after days of inundation, but it could take weeks to recover from being hit by a historic rainstorm that caused widespread flooding and 17 deaths.
Tuesday was the first completely dry day in Columbia since Sept. 24, but officials warned that new evacuations could be ordered as the huge mass of water flows toward the sea, threatening dams and displacing residents along the way.
“God smiled on South Carolina because the sun is out. That is a good sign, but … we still have to be cautious,” Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday after taking an aerial tour. “What I saw was disturbing.”
At least 15 weather-related deaths in South Carolina and two in North Carolina were blamed on the vast rainstorm. Six people drowned in their cars in Columbia alone, and several died after driving around safety barriers onto flooded roads.
Flooding is a concern wherever concrete covers soil that would otherwise act as a sponge in heavy rain.
Haley said it was too soon to put a price tag on the damage and it could be “any amount of dollars.” The Republican governor asked for and received a federal disaster declaration from President Barack Obama, freeing up money and resources for the state.
But South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican presidential candidate, promised on the Senate floor not “to ask for a penny more than we need” in federal aid, to avoid the “pile-on” seen in some previous disaster aid bills that were used to get financing for unrelated projects.
