Disaster Response Services Launching Response in South Carolina

The flood water is receding in South Carolina after torrential rain storms that were aggravated by Hurricane Joaquin deluged Columbia and the surrounding area in the first weekend of October. World Renew Disaster Response Services (DRS) volunteers Eric and Nancy Johnson are on the ground in Columbia neighborhoods as homeowners start to clear out their waterlogged houses and clean up their salvageable possessions.

“Travel is still tricky because many roads and bridges are not yet passable,” Nancy Johnson said. “Where dams were breached, there was ten feet of water in people’s homes.”

The Johnsons are joining government and other response organizations to assess the crisis and prioritize resources to determine a response and make plans for future activities. World Renew DRS Director Ronald Willett said that the Johnson’s work includes determining the fit for a Rapid Response Team, which provides homeowners with tree removal and safe access to their homes.

“The complexity and length of the response needed for the flooding in South Carolina is in the process of being determined, but it’s already clear that the magnitude of the disaster and the resources needed to recover from it will be significant.”

The disaster resulted in massive flooding, mandatory evacuations, and killed 19 people. President Obama declared a federal emergency in six South Carolina counties, and flooding affected communities in North Carolina and southern New Jersey. Hundreds of thousands of residents are without drinking water or electricity, and hundreds of roads and bridges are closed. More than a dozen emergency shelters were opened in the affected areas for evacuated, displaced, and stranded residents.

Much of the rest of the East Coast received less rain and more localized flooding from the October 4 rain event, according to news reports. However, storm preparation efforts were in full swing in the days before the storm along the portion of the eastern seaboard where Super-Storm Sandy devastated coastal communities in New York and New Jersey in 2012.

World Renew DRS is sending volunteers to Ocean County, New Jersey, on an ongoing basis in response to Hurricane Sandy, continuing to help identify low-income, elderly, and disabled residents so that they receive the assistance they need to repair and rebuild their homes. World Renew DRS expects to continue to assist homeowners in Ocean County in response to needs remaining from Super-Storm Sandy for the next two years.

“The complexity and length of the response needed for the flooding in South Carolina is in the process of being determined,” Willett said, “but it’s already clear that the magnitude of the disaster and the resources needed to recover from it will be significant.”

World Renew DRS is appealing for funds to launch a response to the flooding in South Carolina resulting from this storm flooding and other hurricanes that affect North America this fall. Your financial support helps those who are affected by storms and hurricanes this fall who cannot recover on their own.