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Oct 2nd-5th ULL OBS Major Flooding in SC Midlands/Low Country


Hvward

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Oh, And the lake that started all the problems Sunday AM was Arcadia Lake. They were told to drain the lake in 2012 by DHEC for safety concerns about their dam. They sued and said no and I think it is still in the courts. Of course they failed first and caused all the flooding on Forest Lake and Lake Katherine. 

I'm new to SC and it amazes me the differences between North Carolina and South Carolina. During 2004 we never had a dam breach or any of that. Duke Energy prepares like crazy for floods. 

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I'm new to SC and it amazes me the differences between North Carolina and South Carolina. During 2004 we never had a dam breach or any of that. Duke Energy prepares like crazy for floods. 

South Carolina has about 11000 dams (I think). They inspect them, but not every year or heck every 5 years. They need to focus on the main ones, Forest Lake being one of them bc of the damage it can cause. I don't know the difference between the two states and if NC has as many dams as South Carolina

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UPDATE on Beaver Creek Dam at Wildewood. Our crews are now on scene:

- There is NO breach.

- Right now they are doing a controlled release to relieve some of the pressure on the dam and it's working. Officials say water has fallen 5 ft.

- Residents can evacuate IF they want but they are under NO mandate to do so.

- If residents want to evacuate, a shelter is open at AC Flora HS.

Live report coming up on WIS TV at 11p.

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South Carolina has about 11000 dams (I think). They inspect them, but not every year or heck every 5 years. They need to focus on the main ones, Forest Lake being one of them bc of the damage it can cause. I don't know the difference between the two states and if NC has as many dams as South Carolina

NC has a few, but not as much. I see your point though.  Twitter is lighting up with breach alerts now. 

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Today's update: Managed to make it over to my house I rent here in Columbia today to try and get a few more belongings out and grabbed a few photos before having to evacuate again due to dam failures upstream.  Looked like i had about 2.5-3ft of water in my house at the highest point [approx 25 feet off the ground].  Praying these other dams hold up.  Hope everyone else here is safe and sound after all is said and done

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Today's update: Managed to make it over to my house I rent here in Columbia today to try and get a few more belongings out and grabbed a few photos before having to evacuate again due to dam failures upstream. Looked like i had about 2.5-3ft of water in my house at the highest point [approx 25 feet off the ground]. Praying these other dams hold up. Hope everyone else here is safe and sound after all is said and done

So sorry for your loss. So did the water make it to the 1st floor or all the way into the attic?

What kind of snake is that at the door? Did you find him inside the house or just by the door?

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South Carolina has about 11000 dams (I think). They inspect them, but not every year or heck every 5 years. They need to focus on the main ones, Forest Lake being one of them bc of the damage it can cause. I don't know the difference between the two states and if NC has as many dams as South Carolina

SC Dams:

Number of National Inventory (NID) Dams: 2,419

Number of State Regulated Dams: 2,317

Number of High Hazard Potential Dams: 204 (78% are state regulated) 

http://damsafety.org/media/Documents/STATE_INFO/FACT_SHEETS/SC_NEW.pdf

 

NC has 5,600 dams.

http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/investigations/i-team/2014/07/03/11062226/

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SC Dams:

Number of National Inventory (NID) Dams: 2,419

Number of State Regulated Dams: 2,317

Number of High Hazard Potential Dams: 204 (78% are state regulated)

http://damsafety.org/media/Documents/STATE_INFO/FACT_SHEETS/SC_NEW.pdf

NC has 5,600 dams.

http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/investigations/i-team/2014/07/03/11062226/

I stand corrected. Thought I heard 11k on the news. Thanks.

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So sorry for your loss. So did the water make it to the 1st floor or all the way into the attic?

What kind of snake is that at the door? Did you find him inside the house or just by the door?

 

It looks like a young cottonmouth moccasin from the lighter coloring pattern underneath.  They're all over the place in the lowcountry.  One of the worst parts of getting flooded out down there is poisonous snakes swimming into your house. :(

 

It might be a regular watersnake though, it's hard to tell from that photo.

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Oh, And the lake that started all the problems Sunday AM was Arcadia Lake. They were told to drain the lake in 2012 by DHEC for safety concerns about their dam. They sued and said no and I think it is still in the courts. Of course they failed first and caused all the flooding on Forest Lake and Lake Katherine. 

 

It's hard to say if that one lake was the true root cause, because while they didn't totally drain it, it was drained 50% in 2012 and has been kept low on water ever since.  If that dam had been demolished then all that runoff water would have flowed straight downstream during the rain anyway.

 

I tell you though if you want to read up on a disastrous "point the finger, not my problem" property rights mess, the Arcadia Lakes dam sure is one.  It sounds as if the original owner in the 30's wanted a backyard lake, and then his widow sold all the surrounding land to a developer who subdivided it and built lake-front houses, but either the widow intentionally didn't sell the dam or the developer didn't want to own/maintain the dam (likely IMHO) and refused to buy it (the truth on that is lost with the deaths of some of the people involved with the sale, I suppose).  The SCDOT built a (very badly designed, breaking numerous rules) road on top of it that further compromised what wasn't a well built dam to begin with.  And nobody has wanted to take responsibility for maintaining it.

 

If there was ever a case for eminent domain in the interests of public safety, this was one.

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They are now saying it has not breached.  According to WIS news there was "confusion" about what was going on.  Which I know in this situation things happen.  My fear is that if it should really fail and they issue another alert then people may ignore  The news seems to be confused why NWS issued the alert

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It looks like a young cottonmouth moccasin from the lighter coloring pattern underneath.  They're all over the place in the lowcountry.  One of the worst parts of getting flooded out down there is poisonous snakes swimming into your house. :(

 

It might be a regular watersnake though, it's hard to tell from that photo.

Pretty positive that is a moccasin. Have them all over my homeland in East Texas too and during floods you have to be crazy careful because they'll end up anywhere above the high water line. 

 

It's actually quite scary. Be safe everyone. 

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Pretty positive that is a moccasin. Have them all over my homeland in East Texas too and during floods you have to be crazy careful because they'll end up anywhere above the high water line. 

 

It's actually quite scary. Be safe everyone. 

 

Yeah they are terrible.  The largest one I ever saw was a little over 10ft long and bigger around than my arm.  The only reason I can't say for sure is that the angle of the picture makes it hard to see the head, could tell more easily what it was if the head was visible.

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The snake in the picture is not a cottonmouth, it might be a copperhead ( but its not likely) but the pattern and color are off for a cottonmouth, my guess is its a banded water snake, which is easily mistaken for both cottonmouths and copperheads. I see them by the thousands when I fish the local river/ponds in eastern NC, I also see lots of cottonmouths and that isn't one.

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The snake in the picture is not a cottonmouth, it might be a copperhead ( but its not likely) but the pattern and color are off for a cottonmouth, my guess is its a banded water snake, which is easily mistaken for both cottonmouths and copperheads. I see them by the thousands when I fish the local river/ponds in eastern NC, I also see lots of cottonmouths and that isn't one.

I thought the same thing.

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It sounds like they have fully evacuated Kingstree and closed the last bridge into the town. Really feel for everyone there, it's going to be a long road to recovery for them.

Cherokee, I'm right there with you on it is going to be a long one. Wish I could do something for them now. I inaccurately stated that the river had crested because it seemed to level out. It is still rising, albeit slowly.

However, there still is one road out and that would be US 52 North to Lake City. It would be taking you into other flooded areas though.

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ANOTHER dam failure? 

 

Overall, things are calming down.  There are a few dams that have the potential to go, but there are also some empty lakes that have been drained that can take on the water.

 

The focus is shifting downstream now as those dams could very well break later on.

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