Stand here tonight and without hesitation or qualification declare that the state of our city is strong. It is strong. In his annual state of the city address, mayor Steve Benjamin had high praise for the First Responders who worked tirelessly after octobers historic, deadly flood a disaster he compared to the burning of columbia a centuryandahalf ago by general William Tecumseh sherman. Over 11 trillion gallons of water fall from the sky. The mayor called for rebuilding but in an innovative and imaginative way repaired bridges and roads that are friendly to bikes and pedestrians, a natural buffer along gills creek thatll prevent future catasthrophic flooding, and abandoned homes turned into greenspace. Then, he revealed recovery measures already in the works. Im proud to announce that were launching this week the Small Business Disaster Relief fund, providing critical assistance to Small Businesses struggling to recover from the october flood not covered by fema or private insurance.
Items and hunting supplies. And it was an important economic engine for the town. Jobs for employees who just last year got a raise well above the 7. 25 minimum wage. Mayor roger gaddy says sales taxes from this store were the single largest factor in the towns revenuesand the loss of that money allowed the town to lower property taxes. Hes concerned about that loss of revenue. Others told us this is a setback not unlike the loss of mom and pop smaller businesses that went away when walmart arrived 14 years ago. We had Hardware Stores that were booming, several. We had auto stores. And so we had a lot of backup. Little Small Grocery stores on main street and main street has very little now. And its sad. Im hopeful there will be things that come in that will revive our community. And i know the chamber of commerce is working toward the walmart closing means winnsboro is down to just one grocery storethe bilo a couple of miles up the bypass. Mayor gaddy says there is hope here that the a
Be sent to Vladimir Putin. Is a u. S. Russia proxy war already underway. Senator john mccain joins us live. Then senator Elizabeth Warren. She will not run for president this time, but that doesnt mean she isnt watching the race. Plus, whats her beef with biden and the best Political Team on television will be here with insights from the campaign trail. Hello im jake tapper in washington with some breaking news out of South Carolina where there ask a flood of catastrophic proportions underway. At least 140 people have already been rescued from streets overcome with rain. And emergency workers are trying to free more people trapped in videos. Roads and highways are closed across the street. Lets get to the cnn Weather Center for the latest on this lifethreatening storm. Were looking at some pretty incredible numbers out here. Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, 24 inches of rain. Were talking 2 feet just in the last couple of days from this storm. Columbia picking up 18 inches of rain. And th
Neck that water. This is so this is such a good example behalf were talking about what we say flooding. Its not just about rising water. Its about water that moves so quickly that 12 inches of or 12 feet of water can move an entire car. You can imagine how much it takes just to move a person. Just 12 inches to move the car. Officials have been called to more than 100 water rescues across dorchester county. One county that is affected here. Many others are dealing with the flooding. That number likely to grow in the coming hours and days. This morning nearly 30,000 people across South Carolina without power. Three counties under a flash flood emergency. So you know the epicenter of what were seeing here is that eastern coast of South Carolina. Yeah. Theyre saying 18 to 24 inches can move an entire like an suv or larger a larger vehicle. So nick valencia is in charleston, South Carolina. Weve seen a lot of problems and they expect even more with this next band that is coming through. Nic
Hes not going anywhere. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. We have some breaking news in our National Lead today. Columbia, South Carolina now ordering mandatory evacuations after a dam breach. Cnns bora sanchez joins me live from manning, South Carolina. Bor boris, tell us what you know. Reporter jake, were still working to learn more about that dam breach. What we know so far is mandatory evacuations in that area. Sean washington, a spokesperson for the city of columbia confirmed the breach within the past hour. To give you an idea theyre still working to figure out the severity of the situation. Its unclear exactly the extent of the damage. We can tell you that columbia is about 52 miles west of where we are now in manning, South Carolina. And you can see all around me the situation is already dire here. So if that dam breach has any effect on the situation here it could be catastrophic. This is highway 301. And it stretches all the way down to florida.