COLUMBIA, SC — Much-feared Hurricane Joaquin missed the East Coast, but fueled what experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called a "fire hose" of tropical moisture that aimed directly at the state. A solid week of rainfall killed at least 12 people, sent about 1,000 to shelters and left about 40,000 without drinkable water.
President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration, ordering federal aid to help recovery efforts in South Carolina.
The president's action on Monday makes federal funding available to people in Charleston, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland, and Williamsburg counties.
Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the flooding.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said damage surveys are continuing in other areas, and additional counties may be designated for assistance after the assessments are fully completed.
An evacuation was issued for a Columbia, South Carolina neighborhood Monday afternoon after a dam breached
Channel 2's Dave Huddleston traveled to Columbia, where he found Georgians helping out with the recovery effort.
James Jordon and his daughter Erin live in Columbia. They told Huddleston they watched Saturday as water levels reached at least 6 feet and raging water pushed everything in its path downstream.
"You could see (a car) bobbing across right here and then it kind of disappeared. We were curious where it ended up and here it is," James Jordon said.
The car ended up flipped upside down, stuck on the banks of the swollen Gills Creek.
The force of the water pulled half of a Liberty Income Tax building off its foundation.
Keith Scarborough and Tommy Haire are in Columbia from Valdosta to install generators. They said they couldn't believe the damage.
"I hate to walk around and gawk, but I've never seen anything this terrible," Scarborough said.
South Carolina officials say they have rescued more than 200 people from flooded homes and cars.
The devastation is so widespread, Georgia emergency officials are in town to help.
They told Huddleston when everyone is in the same room they can cut through the bureaucracy and get the job done.
"(We are) making sure if there are specific items that are requested, people, jobs, whatever the case may be, we can do that now. And do the paper work later," said Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Butterworth.
More than 300 roads and bridges are closed including major interstates like I-26. There is also a dusk to dawn curfew for residents in Columbia.
One of latest to die in the flooding was McArthur Woods, 56, who drove around a barricade and drowned Sunday night. His passenger managed to climb on top of the sedan, which stalled in the rushing water. A firefighter rescued her after someone heard her screams.
"She came out the window. How she got on top of the car and stayed there like she did with that water— there's a good Lord," Kershaw County Coroner David West said.
By Monday, the heaviest rains had moved into the mid-Atlantic states. Along the Jersey Shore, some beaches devastated by Superstorm Sandy three years ago lost most of their sand to the wind, rain and high surf.
South Carolina authorities mostly switched Monday from search and rescue into "assessment and recovery mode," but Gov. Nikki Haley warned citizens to remain careful as a "wave" of water swelled downstream and dams had to be opened to prevent catastrophic failures above low-lying neighborhoods near the capital.
"South Carolina has gone through a storm of historic proportions," Haley said. "Just because the rain the stops, does not mean that we are out of the woods."
Indeed, shortly after the governor's news conference, authorities evacuated an area on the northeast side of Columbia after a dam on Rockyford Lake burst around 2 p.m. Monday.
James Shirer lives in the area and said he saw the dam fail and a 22-acre lake drain in 10 to 15 minutes.
"It just poured out," Shirer said.
The 16.6 inches of rain that fell at Gills Creek near downtown Columbia on Sunday made for one of the rainiest days recorded at a U.S. weather station in more than 16 years.
The National Guard's Blackhawk helicopters were the best — and only — way to reach some places, and authorities were just starting to identify "vulnerable areas that may not be completely obvious," said Livingston, a two-star general.
The Blackhawk crew including Chief Warrant Officer 2 Antonio Montgomery finished its rescue training just in time for the storm, and quickly put it to use.
Some people waved towels at them, begging for rescues; Neighbors would then step out onto their porches, too, asking to be lifted to safety.
Montgomery, 34, served in Iraq 10 years ago, but there is something different about helping a place where his crew has lived, he said. "It's our home. We've all had friends and families who have lost things."