PLEASANT HILL, S.C. (AP) – A week after the heavy rains first began, some South Carolina residents are still evacuating and others are stacking up sandbags for more possible flooding even as the nation’s top security official prepares to inspect the damage firsthand.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson scheduled a visit Friday to the major cities of Columbia and Charleston to meet with officials and get a look at recovery efforts from what South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has described as a 1,000-year flood.
Although skies have since cleared, coastal areas are bracing because of rain-swollen rivers and the threat of renewed flooding. Some are being evacuated from rural areas while others in Georgetown, near the confluence of a series of rivers, are again putting out sandbags as they did last weekend.
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Associated Press reporters Adam Beam and Susanne M. Schafer contributed to this report from Columbia, South Carolina while Meg Kinnard reported from Blythewood, South Carolina.