Midlands gets back to normal as Florence moves on

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The Midlands got back to business as usual on Monday after a soggy weekend of storm worries.

Richland County and the city of Columbia operated under normal business hours, while the University of South Carolina and area school districts reopened as Florence made its way across the Mid-Atlantic states as a tropical depression.

President Donald Trump today declared several S.C. counties eligible for reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s public assistance program for costs associated with emergency actions during the storm. Counties included in the disaster declaration are: Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Orangeburg and Williamsburg.

Additional counties may be added to the declaration as federal, state and local officials continue to assess storm damage.

Under the FEMA program, state and local governments can apply for federal funding to pay 75% of approved costs for debris removal and emergency, storm-related services.

Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, N.C., on Friday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, dumping torrential rain and causing flooding in parts of eastern North Carolina. While the Midlands escaped heavy rain and winds, parts of South Carolina, including Horry and Georgetown counties, braced for flooding in Florence’s wake.

The Associated Press reported 17 people died in the storm in North Carolina, including a 3-month-old child killed when a tree fell across a mobile home. Flood waters swamped Wilmington, N.C., cutting the city off as more than 30 inches of rain fell in spots.

Gov. Henry McMaster confirmed five storm-related fatalities in South Carolina as of Sunday afternoon. John Quagliariello of the National Weather Service warned of flash flooding in the state, saying that flooding emergencies were taking place Sunday in Chesterfield and Lancaster counites. Quagliariello said the highest rainfall total from Florence in S.C. was 16.06 inches, recorded in Chesterfield County. He said 15.44 inches of rain were recorded in Marion County.

McMaster warned against driving through standing water as parts of the state continued to prepare for river flooding in the coming week.

Officials said 1,183 people remained in 41 S.C. shelters as of Sunday. S.C. Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall said around three dozen roads were closed in the state as of Sunday, but said that number fluctuates as flood waters rise and subside.