Dam breaks:
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.
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.
MANDATORY EVACUATION: OVERCREEK RESIDENTS LIVING BETWEEN FOREST DR. & PERCIVAL RD. IN FOREST ACRES
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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