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[h=4]After the flood: Sunshine, devastating damage in South Carolina[/h]The sun peeked out, floodwaters began to recede and the power was back on Tuesday across battered South Carolina. Now comes the cleanup of more than $1 billion in damages.
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An 87-year-old man was driving from Canada to Florida with his dog, when their car got caught in South Carolina's floods. They were trapped in the water for hours before a Columbia couple spotted them and rushed to their rescue. VPC
Floodwaters close in on homes on a small piece of land on Lake Katherine in Columbia, S.C., Monday, Oct. 5, 2015.(Photo: Chuck Burton, AP)
The sun peeked out, floodwaters began to recede and the power was back on Tuesday across battered South Carolina.
"We are seeing sun for the first time in 10 days," Mike Proud, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Columbia said. "There are still some clouds, but as long as it doesn't rain, it's a good day."
The death toll rose to 11 and damages have been estimated at more than $1 billion across the state from the storm that Gov. Nikki Haley and others have termed a 1-in-1,000-year event. Two additional deaths were reported in North Carolina.
Proud said most of South Carolina's rivers had crested. Floodwaters from upstate are rushing down toward the coast, but he said reservoirs should help curb additional flooding. Dry weather, finally, also should help, he said.
"Down state will still have problems," Proud said. "But we are looking at most rivers receding below flood stage by Wednesday or Thursday."
President Obama on Monday declared a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>major disaster for the state and ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts.
"We have now entered the largest recovery program our nation offers in an almost unprecedented time frame," Gov. Nikki Haley said in response. "What this allows us to do is to assess the damage of this storm in every single county and continue to add to the list of those eligible for this support<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a list we know will grow."
Haley said 550 roads and bridges were closed Monday. At least nine dams breached or failed completely, state emergency management officials said.
"My whole district is basically under water right now," state Sen. Joel Lourie told<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Greenville News<span style="color: Red;">*</span>minutes after a dam gave way in Forest Acres, northeast of Columbia. He called the flooding "a catastrophe of incredible proportion at this point."
Search and rescue teams across the state<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were working around the clock, evacuating people from flooded homes and cars.
Alex Holmes, 24, was among the fatalities. Her sister, Amanda Holmes Mitchell, told USA TODAY her sister's SUV was swept away by floodwaters Sunday. She called a friend that morning to say she was stuck in the car with a dead battery, unable to open the window. Rescuers said the car<span style="color: Red;">*</span>filled with water and Holmes drowned.
"She was a beautiful person," her sister said. "You couldn't help but love her. She was a great daughter, a great aunt, a great sister."
In Columbia, Mayor Steve Benjamin said thousand of homes were without running water, and that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a boil alert remained in effect for thousands more.
"I believe things will get worse before they get better," a somber Benjamin said Monday. "Eventually the floods will abate, but ...<span style="color: Red;">*</span> I anticipate that damage will be in the billions of dollars. Some people's lives will never be the same."
Steve Bowen, a meteorologist with the global insurance firm Aon Benfield, said economic losses to the state should "easily surpass $1 billion given the enormity of the damage."
"The cost to infrastructure alone could be that much," Bowen said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "Much of the damage will not be covered by insurance since only a small percentage of homeowners in South Carolina are current National Flood Insurance Program policyholders."
Contributing: Tim Rice, The Greenville News; Doyle Rice, Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
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