Transcripts For WLTX News 19 7pm Year Ender 20160102 : vima

WLTX News 19 7pm Year Ender January 2, 2016

Sadly, images like we were where the normal. Were going to examine the ongoing Recovery Process i am Darcy Strickland along with jim gandy who is going to take us through the events of this historic flood. Jim, we were first here on that first day when the rain started it makes sense that we are wrapping this up this year together. Its interesting because it took an amount of extraordinary circumstances to produce the rainfall that we saw. Let me carry you through what was going on leading up to that. We had been concerned about hurricane walking walking but, what was happening in the opposite direction was an area it was right here and it was sinking towards the southeast. And it was stationery across the coast. These would change over the course of 24 to 36 hours. By the time we got to friday, the lowell was tapping moisture from the coast. They were producing heavy rains. Meanwhile, the hurricane is beginning to move away from the bahamas and as it did, it began to factor in. By saturday night, this upper level low was capping the moisture. And as it continued to move away it was able to tab some of the moisture coming from the hurricane. The rains persisted. This is what the forecast looked like earlier in the week. This was amazing. It was not going to hit south carolina, but there is going to be moisture coming in producing rain, and when all was said and done, this is how much rain fell across south carolina. This is an analysis of the National Weather service. You can see here we have heavy rain. But saturday into sunday morning right here, from the childs than area into the columbia area many places saw as much as 15 up to 26 inches of rain. By far, historical by any measure. Darcy. Thank you so much. The irony of us having so much water became the problem. Much of the midlands could not drink their rain water. It prevented it from entering the it cost 35 million gallon away. They assisted local officials in repairing the dam by using a helicopter to drop 1 ton sandbags into the breach. The plan worked and they were able to supply customers with clean taking water. Thats drinking water. Drinking water. We had people all over rescuing people. Because if i apartment rescued over 187 people from buildings and cars and the evacuated 464 people from structures because of the floodwaters. Michael crow, was on the boulevard as he rescue people from the cars its one of the images residents will not forget. Theyve just set a line tween the cars. That guy just waited in there, trapped in their cars for two hours after the water pushed them off of the road. A couple of utility trucks, but what you can see is that they are working right now bringing that letter in closer than we have seen him do before. And, in an attempt official somebody else out, i have talked to three people who have brought people out of their cars after two hours. And helping them wade through all of the horizontal pressure, the man that we told you was trapped earlier his daughter was here he said he was being fist out. They put the latter we think is his car. She was standing next to me. And it looks like they had the latter there. Looks like they are about to start bringing him down. What we are hearing is that they are still moving and he may be alive. They have that structure ready to bring him over. She says, but they told her that it was him and he was still moving. They got him out of the car at after 3 1 2 hours of being trapped a terrifying situation they were just trying to get to church to work, and they now have to deal with all of this. And just down the road and forth acres it water rushed into home on kilbourne roads chris hopper spoke with one of the victims that day. Is a pretty dramatic theyre putting this woman on a stretcher because she needs assistance in that shows you how high the water levels are they have to get on the roof of a twostory home to get this woman from inside. The pores and everything were flooded. How bad . It is about, let me see. The water at the top of the fence line which is pretty high, we got everything propped up on our beds in the brought the dogs are propped up. Were you worried wouldnt be able to get out quick yes, we were picked my backyard is flooded. And your kids are safe . Yes. Thank god for that. Nobody but the dogs but theyre going back. Who rescued you . Know these guys we got up and they said they were hungry and my floors were flooded. We are glad that you are safe. The amount of damage cannot even be explained in words you have to see the pictures to understand lee county suffered an enormous amount of damage chad shows us the destruction let me give you an idea of how high this dam was. This is the height of it just about the eye level or probably about the top of my head and i can see the blacktop on both sides, and you can see what you get a wider shot of what happened that the water it came up so high i talked to the sheriff, it came up so high that it was rushing over the road. You can see, that how low the water is because it has really just spread i mean its gone. This is definitely the most stunning image. This road is washed away the sand the dirt, it is all dried up and, its really just a top level. This is the asphalt. This was the centerline of Eddie Watkins road here in lee county. You can see, where the asphalt has dropped off and its, it is a mess here. Lake looks like. Remember, it has been draining since monday morning. That is when we heard that the dam broke you can see, that there is barely any water about 20 minutes ago site beautiful sunset off that water and it is surreal, this is probably the last sunset reflection that you will see a very long time. Again, this time to draining since monday. There isnt much water left, of the water has really just flown through, when it broke. So, which is headed straight through the woods here. And taking a long sediment. Huge rocks huge concrete slabs broken in half its unbelievable to think that the water was so powerful here. This is really all that is left. The damage is so bad, that the sheriff says the road might not be able to be replaced. As for the pond in the dam, who knows if it will be replaced. The damage is so expensive. You have seen this a couple of times, and for you to see this on tv, it is not as incredible unless you are here. It is probably unbelievable to see at home. Still ahead, we have seen the water system. During the flood many were saying this is 1000 year flood that i couldnt get anyone to explain exactly how they arrived at that. I went to our partners, they have statisticians on staff and they took the data and, they actually broke it down into two areas, this flood of the so extensive we looked at trusting, and it was historic it broke one three records. For the trust scenarios, the and 750 years. They are also closer to the most resource. For us, it was different we also broke 12, and threeday records. The threeday total turned out to be a one in 9000 your event. They bury rare events. It was an unusual set of circumstances that came together and this is the data for the National Weather service in columbia. They came into a threeday total of almost 11 inches of rain. Keep in mind on the eastern side of columbia, we saw as much is 21 1 2 inches of rain over the threeday. Darcy pick thank you so much it has been two months since the flood hit her in the midlands. Some local businesses are beginning to reopen while others, are caught any waiting game. Mary took a look back at the Recovery Process. We have been waiting. Reporter your customers are it has been two months since the flood in the pizza and pasta place as one of the first on for a stride to reopen. We had what they call a 4 foot disaster everything from 4p down along the walls had to be taken out sheet rock down to bare bones. Reporter he says the support of the community, diligent and a lucky 4 feet elevation difference that means that he is serving his customers again we work six days week eight until october 5 up until this weekend. And we were able to pull it off. The laundry and dry cutting manager says that they are open and operating with the bare minimums. We have computers, the bare basics to get the job done and to make our customers to make it convenient again. Nearby and elevation the floodwater may be gone but it has left remnants behind. Starting over. The water came up above the ceiling so basically, it has destroyed everything. Reporter facing 900,000 in damage and not enough insurance, as a Small Business owner, she was concerned about the people who work for her. I wanted to make sure that we took care of them. During the demolition process, they got the clinic going all the way down to the studs. Meanwhile, they also documented and logged every piece of equipment model and serial numbers along with pictures. Now, they wait. We are stuck. We cannot move forward until we get our money. We cant get an fda loan until we get the insurance money. We cant Start Building until we have money to pay for the construction. We are in limbo. Reporter news 19. Have a temporary location. There is no word on when they can begin rebuilding the drive location picks coming up next, received a new home after this was destroyed. Recent anderson and her family. 3 3 3 3 anderson and teresa 3 3 anderson and their home and belongings in her family of six lived out of for 2 months recieving a gift and teresa 1. What happened to during the 2. And how living in a hotel 3. And the community raise money welcome back the stories that came out of the flood, stories like trees anderson. Thank you so much for joining us. I will never forget the image of seeing you, and your children in that hotel room. Talk to me about the difference between where you are in october and where your family is today. The difference, is space. We have so much space. We came from a threebedroom to and so, and then, the hotel we were on top of each other. So, it is such a tremendous burden to be out of the hotel room. And back into home getting to normalcy. What happened to her house . We had three feelings that caved. And so, it all went on a night and it started in my bathroom in my master bathroom and, it went into my friends rooms and they lost everything. And, when we thought that we had it, all of a sudden, the living room ceiling caved in. So we were all scurrying until we were able to get into my bedroom which had the only dry room and the only room that still had electricity. Because, it had knocked out the electricity. So like nothing youve ever experienced . Nothing. So what you got out of the house what was the next step . We went into a hotel, and we been, acutely beset october it does not feel like that. Everything is going by so fast. The, we have been at the hotel until last wednesday when we officially moved into our house. Reporter talk to me about your family. If you let them tell it they think that it has been one big vacation. I told them, that the reality is starting to set in. They have been tremendous throughout this entire thing. And, i have to say about my daughter, they have all been wonderful. I am so thankful that we all we were all in one room, but we were all in one room together. And that is a blessing. That was then, this is now, thanks to the generosity of the community you are in a new home. Yes. The one thing, throughout this whole ordeal, my kids see that there are good people in this world. They take nothing else from this, then that is what i want them to take. There are good people in this world. With so much bad, there are so good people. I can see it is an emotional subject. It is. It doesnt seem like its been that long, but tell me about whats bringing emotion. It just doesnt feel real. It is so surreal. You see this happen to others but you never thought that she never think that it would be such a whirlwind of so many just just to see where we were and where we are now god has blessed us. I think i will be crying for the next 10 years. I dont know if you have had an opportunity, but i want you to be able to look into the camera and to say, thank you, what would you say to them . Thank you, it doesnt feel like enough. And to say it started off with just a text from the school, everybody has been so wonderful. I cant begin to say thank you to you all. The have so many things i have seen and havent seen, my kids will always have you guys. We thank you so much. And i know, that 2016 has Amazing Things in store for you and your family. Thank you. There is more. 3 example of the tremendous effort that we saw to help victims of the floodheres a look at some other that was just one example of the effort that we have seen from our community. Here is a look back at some other ways people pitched in. Is a 6 [music] i wanted to get out here and volunteer. They can take whatever they want. There are so many different emotions at a time like this. We want to do whatever we can. They have lost everything. We are going to help were going to do the right thing. With all of the guess you are giving, with all of the pings donating, and people coming in it has been a blessing. I like giving more than getting. My friends have lost everything. These are 10yearold students and all of these are just and all. There is so much gratitude. To know that you can come out here and make a difference is a blessing. We have been in such a together and say here is a box of whatever you need, but they beautiful thing. To realize how important this community is to us, and to the whole state. People have held us in their front yard crying. Its been so extending session so outstanding. Our district has given us everything. I dont think were going to do this anymore. As an unbelievable community a look back at the Recovery Process. Thank you so much for joining us for this special report. Karaoke in your car, its the newest sensation from the selfie generation, singing cell phone, but watch out. Then, a gator ate her arm. There i was, gators mouth on my arm. That wasnt letting go. And this first grader dreaded going to school because of what kids would say about his big ears. You have elf ears. Now the surgery that will change his life. Are you ready to see your new ears . Yes. Plus what youre doing wrong every day of your life and you dont even know it. Ordinary things that you do every day and they are all wrong. Is that incredible . Even peeling a banana. The wrong way, buddy. And monster of the deep, what is this creature . Now inside edition with deborah norville. Hello, everybody and happy new year. Thank you for joining us this week kicking off 2016. It was one of the biggest trends of the last year, selfies. They estimate 93 million taking a selfie while singing

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