SC News

South Carolina: Flood and Recovery

Stories of people and communities going about the work of recovery from the floods of 2015 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.00000177-2120-db48-a97f-fb222fb50000In October of 2015, South Carolina received rainfall in unprecedented amounts over just a few days time. By the time the rain began to slacken, the National Weather Service reported that the event had dumped more than two feet of water on the state. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the subsequent flooding was the worst in 75 years.Then, one year later, rain and storm surge from Hurricane Matthew dealt a blow to many in South Carolina still at work recovering from the 2015 floods.SC Public Radio Flood Coverage from the Beginning

A Year Later, Flood Continues to Affect Operations at Harmony School

South Carolina Public Radio | By Tut Underwood

Published September 12, 2016 at 4:26 PM EDT

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Harmony School teacher Jennifer Mancke admires the mural made by student in the flood-damaged preschool building that will require about $400,000 to repair.

Tut Underwood/SC Public Radio

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The preschool building of Harmony School is gutted, ruined by 3 or 4 inches of rain during last year's flood.

Tut Underwood/SC Public Radio

At Harmony School, a private school in the Columbia suburb of Forest Acres, children learn in a couple of portable classrooms that were pressed into service after last October’s historic flood. The move was required because the flood rendered the school’s largest building, its preschool, unusable. Just 2 to 4 inches from the overflow of adjacent Gills Creek was all it took to cause $400,000 worth of damage. Director Debbie Holmes and teacher Jennifer Mancke talk about the event and the school’s efforts to raise money for its repair. Even the school’s students are pitching in.