Flooded Midlands drying out from Saturday morning rain
By ADAM BEAM and JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - After four dry days, rain fell again on the South Carolina Midlands as the state tries to recover from devastating floods.
"Just prepare for a soggy Saturday," said Von Gaskin with the WIS First Alert Team. Gaskin said the heavy rain will eventually diminish, but scattered showers will fall on the Midlands throughout the day.
The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for Richland, Lexington and Aiken Counties.
"At 10:25 am edt...doppler radar and automated rain gauges indicated that 1 to 3 inches of rain has fallen across the central Midlands this morning," said the alert. "The heavy rain will cause flooding due to saturated soils and issues from the previous historical rainfall event last weekend."
Up to one inch of rain fell in just over 15 minutes, said the advisory from the National Weather Service.
Main Street in Columbia flooded at the usual place near Catawba and Whaley Streets. Employees at Carolina Cafe at the corner of Sumter and Pendleton Street downtown had to squeegee several inches of water out of the business.
Last weekend, more than a foot of rain fell across a wide area of the state.
After the weekend, forecasters predict several more dry days.
There is still flooding in South Carolina. All that water from Columbia continues to move toward the sea, although authorities says rivers are near their crests and don't expect the devastating damage that occurred when up to 20 inches of rain fell over South Carolina's capital over two days.
In Columbia, officials continued to be heartened by acts of generosity, but warned tempers were flaring in some places.
Beam reported from Summerville, South Carolina. Associated Press writers Susanne M. Schafer and Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina, and Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
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