Mosquito swarms, pollutants, trees toppling over for no apparent reason ”” the devastating flood last week will leave an environmental mess. The only real question is, how big?
Everything from litter to unseen poisons are out there. As the waters creep back below rivers’ banks, residents and officials are starting to assess the damage and clean up the debris. Here’s at least part of what you could find….
Read it all from the local paper.
Found here:
As the flooding progresses through our state we ask you to continue to keep those affected in your prayers. Two of our clergy are serving as chaplains on the front lines. The Rev. Donald Hayes, Vicar of Christ Church, Florence, is Chief Chaplain for the South Carolina Guard. He is overseeing 50 Chaplains deployed throughout our state. The Rev. Nathan Bistis, Associate Rector at St. Luke’s, Hilton Head, is serving as a Chaplain with the National Guard. Both are ministering to flood victims as well as to those involved in search and rescue efforts. While reports are still coming in about churches and individual parish families, we do know that Holy Cross, Stateburg and Holy Comforter, Sumter and St. Paul’s, Conway appear to be among the most significantly impacted so far.
Church members come together for Conway church damaged by flood
Thursday was back to school for more than 60 children at Conway’s St. Paul’s Anglican Church Day School, but not everything was back to normal.
The floodwaters damaged the classrooms on the lower level of the historic Conway building.
It soaked carpets and damaged drywall.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,” says Isaiah, 43:2, “and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”
Well, for the most part, at least.
The biblical words resonated with area church leaders and parishioners affected by this week’s storm as they assessed the damage to their places of worship and helped each other find alternative spaces for upcoming services.
We ask that you keep the families of those who have lost loved ones, those who have suffered loss of property and all those harmed or who are assisting in the rescue and relief efforts following this historic flood in your prayers.
While we are grateful to God that the majority of our Diocese has come through the recent catastrophic storm unscathed, a few of our parishes and people suffered significant damage that will not be adequately covered by insurance. It is also a reality that additional flooding is expected and the recovery process will continue for some time. That there will be unmet needs is certain.
For those reasons, the Diocesan office is recommending the following possible responses to this disaster…
[Tiffany Wilson]..and her family had to be rescued from their home near Swan Lake Sunday. Her woke up to her dog wimpering in the back yard, where she say he was under water.
“I panicked because I have a six week old baby, and I have an eight-year-old son. Plus, I have a disabled Dad. So, my thought was to get everybody out.”
Walking back into her new reality, Wilson says it was tough to see.
“I cried,” stated Wilson.
"This is a different kind of bad" Haley says, telling people in Gtown, Jamestown, Givhans Ferry to get out before the floodwaters #SCFlood
— ABC News 4 (@ABCNews4) October 8, 2015
@wachfox crews work in the morning hours to create a temporary dam in hopes of repairing the Columbia Canal breach pic.twitter.com/YTH6pU8QcQ
— Ryan Burgee (@ryanthephotog) October 8, 2015
At the Harvest Hope Food Bank, each volunteer has a reason to serve, including Kassy Alia. Tuesday afternoon, Alia was dubbed the “Fun Food Lady” as she sorted cart-loads of cakes, pies, and pizzas.
“Something that’s brought me a lot of peace over the past few days is I know I told my husband everyday how much I loved him, and he did the same for me. I’m confident, and I know that he would be so proud of me,” she said.
Kassy’s late husband, Forest Acres police officer Greg Alia, was shot and killed in the line of duty last week while responding to a suspicious vehicle call at Richland Mall. He was a new father, just 32 years old, and a star at the small department. Alia was laid to rest on Saturday as the rain rolled in.
Along South Carolina’s coast, residents were preparing for a second round of flooding as rivers swollen from days of devastating rains make their way toward the Atlantic.
Residents near a dam in Richland County were told to evacuate Wednesday morning, with authorities saying the dam could breach at any time.
Crews worked overnight to try to stabilize the Beaver Dam after a sinkhole formed nearby, pumping water out of of the pond to relieve pressure on the dam.
This was the scene an hour ago as a SC pastor pushed an unearthed casket out of the flood waters @WCBD pic.twitter.com/qLVe3q4i5l
— Matt Alba (@mattalbaWCBD) October 5, 2015
At least 18 dams have breached or failed in South Carolina since Saturday, the state’s emergency management agency said early Tuesday.
One failure, of the Overcreek dam in Forest Acres, sent a torrent of floodwater raging downstream and forced a mandatory evacuations near Columbia.
Back in Charleston for the night, waters still high,roads still tough to get through.Short vid from Richland flyover pic.twitter.com/EDkRznt7Jk
— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) October 6, 2015
What the #SCFlood looked like from space http://t.co/g84dxKozB3 pic.twitter.com/TbQgFrXZ0S via mashable
— SEO & Marketing Worm (@MarketingFeedle) October 5, 2015
Deadly flooding has engulfed parts of South Carolina, forcing people from their homes. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has activated the National Guard to help with flood rescues, and charitable organizations are responding.
Impact Your World has gathered ways for people to help in these efforts.
Ӣ The Salvation Army is assisting communities along the East Coast by providing food, water and shelter to flood victims.
WATCH: Get a video tour of downtown #Charleston in the midst of the #SCFlood: http://t.co/ZszP9HMh2X. #chswx pic.twitter.com/fAeWQy7vAk
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) October 5, 2015
David Glover was watching Clemson beat Notre Dame when the dam broke.
Not even 150 sandbags, piled high against the back wall of his house, could keep hours of relentless rainfall from spilling inside. The tide rose. Church Creek flooded. In a mad panic, Glover and his son started carrying everything they could to the kitchen on the second floor, including his favorite game day recliner.
By Sunday afternoon, there was no distinguishing where his yard ended and the creek began. A few sand bags floated above what was once his driveway. Glover crossed his arms as he surveyed the damage from the side of the road.
“I’ve been here 18 years. We’ve never had water like this,” he said. “Thank God I’ve got insurance.”
As teams from multiple agencies try to save people from their cars on flooded streets across South Carolina, officials are struggling just to keep count, the state’s emergency management spokesman told CNN on Sunday.
“It’s a historic flood the likes of which we haven’t seen,” Eric Rousey said. Most of the rescue operations are being staged in Dorchester and Charleston, where at least 30,000 people are without power. Emergency officials said there were about 140 water rescues in Dorchester overnight.
In Charleston, people paddled kayaks and canoes down city thoroughfares, as more than 6 inches of rain fell in downtown on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service Twitter account.
On Saturday, about 11½ inches of rain had fallen in the city, the weather service said. That’s an inch more than the all-time daily highest amount of rain in the area, recorded in September 1998.
An independent Government-appointed consultant will be brought in to negotiate plans for the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral after four years of deadlock.
Plans for the future of Christchurch’s iconic cathedral stalled in 2011 after Anglican leaders came out in support of plans to partially demolish the building.
They had faced ongoing opposition from heritage campaigners, particularly the Great Christchurch Building Trust (GCBT), which wanted the old cathedral to be fully restored.
Bishop Victoria Matthews made the announcement to a full house at the Christ Church Transitional Cathedral on Hereford St on Thursday evening.
Christchurch’s Anglican Diocese has avoided censure for incorrectly using funds from an insurance payout to help pay for the transitional cathedral.
A High Court judgment released on Wednesday said it was sufficient for the Church Property Trustees (CPT), which holds property on various trusts for the diocese, to repay the $4 million it used from the quake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral insurance payout to construct the new building near Latimer Square.
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Nepal on Tuesday, the largest since last month’s massive 7.8 tremor, sending residents scurrying into the streets and causing rocks and bricks to fall from damaged buildings.
Nepal’s Home Ministry has raised the death toll from the latest quake to at least 36 and said another 1,117 people had been injured.
Thirty of the country’s 75 administrative districts had been affected, state-run Radio Nepal said.
At least four were killed Tuesday in Chautara, the seat of Sindhupalchowk district, said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, citing reports from colleagues there. The town of about 6,000 people, which is built on a rugged ridge line, had seen roughly 90% of its buildings damaged or destroyed in last month’s quake.
It’s been revealed hundreds of Christians died or were injured as the Nepal earthquake hit their churches, including an Anglican minister and 17 of his parishioners.
In Nepal, Sunday is a work day so Christians normally attend church on their day off, which is Saturday. So many were in church when the quake hit on 25th of April.
Rev Lewis Lew, the Dean of Nepal which is under the oversight of the Diocese of Singapore, has issued a confirmation of a tragic scene in the village of Choke.
The village was recently visited by a mission team from Singapore.
A 6.7 magnitude aftershock has struck Nepal as rescue teams battle to reach people trapped by the earthquake which has killed more than 2,200 people.
The aftershock, felt as far away as New Delhi, sent frightened residents in the devastated Kathmandu Valley running for open ground once again.
Rescue teams were forced to briefly pause their frantic search for survivors,with many still feared to be buried under the rubble of flattened houses and temples across the country.
It’s been 25 years since Hugo tore into the Lowcountry, its eye passing just north of Charleston Harbor and leaving an indelible scar on the lives of the people who lived it.
If a storm that powerful made landfall today just south of Hugo’s path, at Kiawah Island, the buzz saw of its worst, north-side winds would shear nearly all of the Charleston metro area and the storm surge would submerge the barrier islands.
According to an experimental Hazus computer model run by a College of Charleston team, a landfall just south of the city from a Hugo-scale hurricane could tear up nearly half the homes in the region and destroy tens of thousands of them. Tens of thousands of people would be homeless, at least temporarily, and thousands forced to shelters. Businesses and jobs could come to a standstill, and the loss to the economy alone could be far more than $2 billion.
When Hurricane Hugo struck on Sept. 21, 1989, sleepy little Summerville was still adjusting to a growth spurt that would see the town grow from a village of 6,492 people in 1980 to a town of 22,519 in 1990.
It had been years since the Lowcountry had seen a serious hurricane, and many who lived through Hugo now admit they just didn’t prepare the way they should have.
“Personally, I didn’t take it seriously,” said Margaret Goodwine.
By the time she realized the gravity of the situation, “it was really too late to do anything,” she said.
A new US geological survey indicates that some parts of the US are at an increased risk of earthquakes, especially along the east coast.
New seismic hazard maps updated for the first time since 2008 show highest risk west but also increased risk east.
“The eastern US has the potential for larger and more damaging earthquakes than considered in previous maps and assessments,” the report states.
Just a wobble away – that’s how close Tropical Storm Arthur will come Thursday to the Lowcountry.
Forecasters said the eye of the storm will pass 100 miles out to sea or closer. On Wednesday, the storm’s winds extended 90 miles from the eye.
The National Weather Service’s forecast Thursday night called for strong winds and rain squalls for Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties – harsher nearer the coast – but not tropical storm conditions.
Auckland’s best-known Anglican Church is shutting its doors for three months after Sunday morning’s service so it can undergo a facelift.
The Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell has hosted the funerals of Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Paul Homes and Sir Paul Reeves.
More than 100,000 people attend the church each year.
A group of Anglicans in a small Canterbury community are vowing to take the battle for Christ Church Cathedral to the court of public opinion after a judge lifted a stay on a planned demolition of the 110-year-old building.
Justice Graham Panckhurst released findings on Friday lifting the stay on demolition of the cathedral.
However a small group of Anglicans say the fight is not over.
Akaroa resident Mike Norris organised a group of parishioners to meet and discuss what the decision meant for their battle to restore the cathedral.
“This is the beginning of the next stage of the campaign,” he said. “We have gone through the courts, which has not advanced our cause, now it is time to go through the court of public opinion.”
The High Court has permitted the deconstruction of the earthquake-damaged Christchurch Cathedral, but the Anglican Church says it won’t happen any time soon.
Justice Graham Panckhurst yesterday lifted a stay against the Anglican Church taking the iconic stone building down before it had committed to building a new cathedral.
It wants to reduce it to a height of two to three metres and build another cathedral in Cathedral Square, but that was fought by the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust.
…the earthquake also had quieter consequences that didn’t make headlines. In the London Review of Books, Richard Lloyd Parry investigates a peculiar phenomenon revealed in the aftermath of the storm. His piece is called “Ghosts of the Tsunami.”
RICHARD LLOYD PARRY: People reported neighbors – neighbors who died in the tsunami – appearing at their houses and coming and sitting down in puddles of water.
MARTIN: Parry has lived in Japan for 18 years and has known it to be a mostly secular culture. In global polls, Japan ranks as one of the least religious countries in the world.
PARRY: But there’s a bit more to it than that. I mean I’d got used to seeing, in the homes of friends, these little altars you find to the family ancestors. And I’d always assumed they were nothing much more than a quaint piece of interior decoration. But I realized in following this story and returning to the tsunami zone, that actually the religion of the ancestors is alive and well and very strong.
Hamish Ogston pledged the money to the Anglican Church shortly after the February 2011 quake and, after seeing nothing had been done with the building, has reiterated his offer.
Mr Ogston says there is only a $15 million shortfall after his pledge, other offers and insurance money.
The Anglican Church in Burundi has joined the government and other aid agencies in the country in providing aid to victims of the flood disaster that hit the country’s capital Bujumbura about two weeks ago.
A member of the church’s communications team Nasasagare Guy, told ACNS in an interview today: “The church here is still dealing with emergency situation. We’re responding to the needs of the victims by providing food and clothing donated by Christians in our church.”
On the night of February 9, Bujumbura experienced what the locals felt were some of the “heaviest thunderstorms and rainfall in contemporary history.” Over 150 people were reported dead and hundreds were injured after the torrential rains washed whole hillsides away.
A small earthquake shook both states [Of South Carolina and Georgia] late Friday, shaking homes and rattling residents in three states.
The quake happened at 10:23 p.m. and had a preliminary magnitude of 4.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Web site. It was centered seven miles west of the town of Edgefield, S.C., and was felt as far west as Atlanta and as far north as Hickory, N.C., each about 150 miles away.
“It’s a large quake for that area,” said USGS geophysicist Dale Grant. “It was felt all over the place.”
Just another lowkey week here–NOT. Read it all–KSH
Months after super typhoon Hayaan destroyed large parts of the Philippines, many survivors say prayer got them through the storm and the difficult times afterwards. “The comment that I have heard is that God can send the cyclone here because the Filipino people are so strong that we can overcome even a storm this strong,” says Catholic Relief Services emergency coordinator Elizabeth Tromans.