October 2, 2016

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

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A year after catastrophe

SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTOS

Scenes of damage and loss were common across the tri-county area during a three-day period of heavy rain that affected South Carolina in early October 2015.

Historic flooding teaches preparedness, perseverance

T

he National Weather Service had predicted a unique weather pattern that could gener-

FEMA process continues for city, county

ate as much as a foot of rainfall over areas

of South Carolina for the weekend beginning on Friday, Oct. 2, 2015. NWS Meteorologist Doug so significant, the NationAnderson, based in Columal Weather Service called bia, said a tropical plume of it a once-in-a-1,000 year moisture would be transevent. South Carolina Gov. ported right through the Nikki Haley repeated that center of the state from the term, calling it the 1,000remnants of Hurricane Joa- year flood. And the predicquin. tion that it could turn into At the time, he predicted a catastrophic event came Sumter would true for many receive 10.8 residents in MAKING HISTORY inches of rain The Sumter over a two-day Item readerRead more about the 1,000period, but he ship area. year flood inside this warned that it In today’s edition. could be a edition, The Electric company considers “catastrophic” Sumter Item buying boats to keep on event. looks at the hand in case of future The heaviest state of the redisasters. A2 rains came on covery across Homeowners still coping Saturday and the area, inwith damage a year later. Sunday, Oct. cluding the A2 3-4. status of road, 1st responders take When the bridge and opportunity to learn from sun came out, dam repairs; flood. A4 Sumter had what governMeadowfield Apartments received 21.3 ment officials residents, management inches of rain learned from reflect on process of with Manning the experireturning to complex. A5 and Summerence; how a ton receiving utility compa19.75 and 19.27 ny responded inches, respectively. Bishto the event; and what’s hapopville received 11.43 inches pened to an apartment comof rain. plex that was heavily damRainfall in the area was aged in the flood.

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BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com One year after the flood, city and county officials in Sumter continue to make repairs and fill out paperwork to receive reimbursement from Federal Emergency Management Agency. Sumter County Administrator Gary Mixon said most of the county government’s expenses after the flood involved road repair and debris pick-up. He said the county is still submitting project worksheets for completed projects and will continue to do so for eight months to a year before

7 roads still closed in area; many dams not repaired BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com After the devastating flooding and millions of dollars in damage in the tri-county area from last October, a total of seven roads remain closed, according to local and state officials.

DEATHS, A7 and A9 Julius T. Simmons Leroy Gooden Greg D. Glazier Filomena P. Rowland John Rivers Jr. Ila D. McElveen

Kayden Francis Kenneth D. Sigmon Sr. Ronnie Burgess Joan W. Henderson James Sargent Sr. Amanda W. Smith

the recovery and reimbursement process is complete. Sumter County Emergency Management Director Erik Hayes said the average recovery to completion time after an event like the flood is three to five years. The county closed on the ice storm event of February 2014 about one month ago, he said. For the October 2015 flood, Hayes said the county requested $114,496.78 for emergency repairs made during and immediately after the flood and received approximately $85,800, or a

SEE FEMA, PAGE A5

A gap about six feet wide opened up on U.S. 521 near Rembert and three motorists crashed into the gap. Five closures are state-maintained roads in Clarendon County. Sumter and Lee counties each have one county road still closed. No city-maintained roads in the three counties remain closed. In Clarendon, of the five

state-maintained road closures, one was because of a bridge failure, and four resulted from dam failures. A bridge failure at U.S. 301 from North Brewington Road to Rainbow

SEE REPAIRS, PAGE A5

WEATHER, A10

INSIDE

ANOTHER LOVELY DAY

5 SECTIONS, 36 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 294

Parly sunny and warm today with little chance of rain; tonight, partly cloudy and cool. HIGH 85, LOW 63

Business D1 Classifieds D5 Comics E1 Opinion A8

Outdoors D4 Sports B1 Stocks D2 Television E3


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