Thousands without running water as SC flooding continues

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - People across South Carolina got an object lesson Monday in how you can dodge a hurricane and still get hammered.

Authorities struggled to get water to communities swamped by it, and with waterlogged dams overflowing, bridges collapsing, hundreds of roads inundated and floodwaters rolling down to the coast, the state was anything but done with this disaster.

"This is a Hugo-level event," said Maj. Gen. Robert Livingston, head of the South Carolina National Guard, referring to the September 1989 hurricane that devastated Charleston. "We didn't see this level of erosion in Hugo. ... This water doesn't fool around."

Safe water was in short supply: In Columbia, officials brought in bottled water and portable restrooms for the 31,000 students at the University of South Carolina, and firefighters used a half-dozen trucks and pumps to ferry hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital.

Much-feared Hurricane Joaquin missed the East Coast, but fueled what experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called a "fire hose" of tropical moisture that aimed directly at the state. A solid week of rainfall killed at least 12 people, sent about 1,000 to shelters and left about 40,000 without drinkable water.

One of latest to die was McArthur Woods, 56, who drove around a barricade and drowned Sunday night. His passenger managed to climb on top of the sedan, which stalled in the rushing water. A firefighter rescued her after someone heard her screams.

By Monday, the heaviest rains had moved into the mid-Atlantic states.

South Carolina authorities mostly switched Monday from search and rescue into "assessment and recovery mode," but Gov. Nikki Haley warned citizens to remain careful as a "wave" of water swelled downstream and dams had to be opened to prevent catastrophic failures above low-lying neighborhoods near the capital.

"South Carolina has gone through a storm of historic proportions," Haley said. "Just because the rain the stops, does not mean that we are out of the woods."

Indeed, shortly after the governor's news conference, authorities evacuated an area on the northeast side of Columbia after a dam on Rockyford Lake burst around 2 p.m. Monday.

The 16.6 inches of rain that fell at Gills Creek near downtown Columbia on Sunday made for one of the rainiest days recorded at a U.S. weather station in more than 16 years.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1,048 of the 9,275 bridges were structurally deficient before this storm. Some 550 roads and bridges remained closed on Monday, including nearly 75 miles of Interstate 95. The governor said they will need close inspection to ensure they're safe.

The national guard's Blackhawk helicopters were the best - and only - way to reach some places, and authorities were just starting to identify "vulnerable areas that may not be completely obvious," said Livingston, a two-star general.

The Blackhawk crew including Chief Warrant Officer 2 Antonio Montgomery finished its rescue training just in time for the storm, and quickly put it to use.

Some people waved towels at them, begging for rescues. Neighbors would then step out onto their porches, too, asking to be lifted to safety.

Montgomery, 34, served in Iraq 10 years ago, but there is something different about helping a place where his crew has lived, he said.

"It's our home. We've all had friends and families who h