Survivalist Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

We're underwater! Columbia, SC 1000 yr. flood.

Jump to Latest
13K views 112 replies 37 participants last post by  The Shadow  
#1 ·
We are underwater here, literally! Had over 21 inches of rain yesterday we are in emergency conditions. Collapsed bridges, broken dams, sinkholes, collapsed roads & buildings, trees down, people evacuated from homes by boat. Looks like a smaller scale Katrina. They say it's a 1,000 year flood. Death count so far is 7 including 1 rescue worker. Over 390 road closures statewide due to flooding. Whole cities, including mine, under boil water advisories for those that still have water. We're one of the lucky ones that, so far, we still have power and running water. Getting a real world chance to practice my preps! I'll probably do an after action prep analysis video when this is all over.

Terry
 
#4 ·
I live just south west of Augusta GA and have been astonished by the amount of rain we have received, and it was only about half of what was predicted! I can only imagine what those north of us are experiencing. Once roads start opening in SC we hope to head that way to help in whatever way we can. It could have just as easily been that bad here.

Stay safe
 
#5 ·
I'm about 10 minutes from downtown Columbia. Woke up Sunday morning around 5:45 to the sounds of my trashcans floating away hitting cars. Water surrounded us on 3 sides. Waist deep for about 4 hours. Roads all around are closed or washed out. Decided early on to bug in and keep to ourselves. Went out after the curfew needed this morning to do a quick survey. It's as bad as the news states. For all our SC members.. Stay safe, OPSEC, don't go out unless it's an emergency, and make sure you're boiling your tapwater. If you're in Columbia, and you're in trouble, leave a post here and I'll try to help.
 
#9 ·
Hungry said:
I'm very happy that this event didn't happen in freezing temps.

Stay safe.
Click to expand...
I wonder if it would actually have been better. Yes, it would have buried ya'll, but snow has a slower water-release rate so maybe it wouldn't have flooded homes and businesses in such a overwhelming manner.

Prayers for everyone involved though. Hope y'all get through it okay.
 
J
#14 ·
Got to stay home today. Had to take my daughter to work. 2 pm and it started raining again, Lexington county. Did look like the creeks are subsiding, that's a good thing. My house is high and away from some of the local ponds and creeks. Closest one is about a mile away. Still dangerous though due to roads being undermined. Trees are starting to topple with the wind since the water has loosened the ground. It's going to take a long time to repair all the roads here. The only prep I can say would ever work for flooding would be to evacuate before it starts. Once it happens it's run for your life with only what you grab going out the door. One woman on the news said all she could get was 2 Totinos pizzas and her lil doggie. Not funny but she maintained an upbeat and positive attitude about it.
 
#29 ·
JL1 said:
The only prep I can say would ever work for flooding would be to evacuate before it starts. Once it happens it's run for your life with only what you grab going out the door. One woman on the news said all she could get was 2 Totinos pizzas and her lil doggie. Not funny but she maintained an upbeat and positive attitude about it.
Click to expand...
I hate to say it, but that's ridiculous. Of course you can prep for a flood. For one don't build on a floodable area unless you elevate the living area above possible flood levels. So now you're either on a hill surrounded by flooding or living on a defacto dock. Enough supplies stored to out-wait the flood waters, some sort of water transportation, water purification, and maintain security against other people who have your opinion on the matter that they shouldn't do anything about a flood but run frantically to someone else's land and supplies.

Hell, even if you don't keep your home high and dry and bug in you can prep for a bug-out through a flooded area.
 
#15 ·
Body count has risen to 9. The rain has tapered off to just an occasional light rain off and on. Still under a boil water advisory. Probably will be for several days at least. They say it's safe for clothes washing and bathing. I'm using my emergency storage water for drinking, washing dishes and sponge bathing myself. My wife can use the city water to bathe but with my suppressed immune system I'm not taking any chances. We're using our supply of paper plates, bowls, cups and plastic utensils to keep the dish washing to a minimum. Pulled a few canned goods out of storage to avoid using too many pots and pans to cook. We can just microwave the food in the paper bowls. My neighborhood faired better than most. We got lucky.

Terry
 
#21 ·
down outside summerville is a out an out mess, im high ground(for here anyway) but another couple of inches and the last bridge tween us and summerville is closed. we are already cut off from charleston, ( 3 other bridges) they sayin it might get a lil deeper when the water works its way down, only thing holdin the ashley back right now is the 17 roadbed, its dead level with the left side, water jumps or cuts there, we gotta un butt the house and head into my shop. ( lil bit higher, 2 story.)
 
#23 ·
I've had a local live feed up for a few hours. I heard some interesting things...

-'Forced' evacuations in some places. From the tone of the reporting it seems somewhat optional, but the wording was interesting.

-Rationing of bottled water already at once location ( college/school? ) already. Only 3 bottles per day. They didn't say anything about the size.

-Curfews in place now....6pm to 6am in at least one location.

-FEMA hasn't made an appearance yet, but the Red Cross seems to be active. BUT they do have a hotline for insurance questions...good job FEMA.
 
#26 ·
Metcalf said:
I've had a local live feed up for a few hours. I heard some interesting things...

Forced' evacuations in some places. From the tone of the reporting it seems somewhat optional, but the wording was interesting.
Click to expand...
Not forced. There have been 2 "mandatory" evacs that I'm aware of. One was yesterday for homes downstream from the major dam. They were opening the spillways to lower the lake level and it might have flooded those areas. The other one was today. A spillway was about to breach in an area already hard hit. It would have flowed down into several smaller lakes. The people that didn't want to leave were simply asked for their next of kin info. Most left.

Metcalf said:
Rationing of bottled water already at once location ( college/school? ) already. Only 3 bottles per day. They didn't say anything about the size.
Click to expand...
Haven't heard of any rationing but don't know for sure. Several water distribution sites are set up with Walmart and other businesses stepping up to the plate.

Metcalf said:
Curfews in place now....6pm to 6am in at least one location.
Click to expand...
Curfews were last night. This was due to all the morons going all over the place to take pictures, getting in the way and having to be rescued. No curfews tonight.

Metcalf said:
FEMA hasn't made an appearance yet, but the Red Cross seems to be active. BUT they do have a hotline for insurance questions...good job FEMA.
Click to expand...
Haven't seen the feds yet but they might be around.

Terry
 
P
#42 ·
I've been in flash flooding a couple of times and it's really frightening. My prayers for safekeeping are with you and yours there.

Do be aware the clean up is going to last forever, the water carries with it a lot of nasties but mostly a silt like mud that coats everything. Even the roads may not be safe as the footings could have been washed away. One of our local floods collapsed after a flood, and was closed for 6 months, they had to wait for the ground to dry out before doing anything to it.


Here's a report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fVH84XMQi0
 
#50 ·
comms are still up south as well, power, few places are out, as trees are rolling over powerlines from washout, im on a island again, they in the process of shutting down 165 and 17, as well as 61, due to tidal flow, and incoming heavy flow. watch the level drop about 1" at noon to + 26" as of 17:00 thats on a road sign. as we start getting downhill flow from columbia its going to get deep. we ended up with 19.8 inches of rain in my area. Gators are moving around, so are snakes, and if my freezer wasnt full, it would only take about 2 seconds. passed one hillock this mornin that was out of the water, that had about 25 deer standin on it. that was further down the ashley. it bypassed the 100 year flood line, by about 3 feet. district 2 schools are closed, indefinitely, due to damaged bridges, road damage and people using the schools as shelter. on tha plus side, sun came out today.......the bad thing, looters in the flooded houses, people already scamming for flood damage , and the shyster contractors already making the rounds.......the "we can flood proof your home" idiots
 
Survivalist Forum
posts
12M
members
169K
Since
2007
A forum community dedicated to survivalists and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about collections, gear, DIY projects, hobbies, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Off Topic Lounge Disaster Preparedness General Discussion Firearms General Discussion New Member Introductions Financial Forum