South Carolina Weathering Heavy Rain & Flooding

South Carolina Flooding

Hurricane JOAQUIN did not come ashore in the U.S., but it has been responsible for heavy rains that have resulted in severe flooding in various parts of SOUTH CAROLINA.  CHARLESTON and COLUMBIA have been hit the hardest.

APEX BROADCASTING/CHARLESTON, SC PD STEVE CRUMBLEY told ALL ACCESS, "FRIDAY MORNING, I pulled STEVE HARVEY’s Morning show and broadcast live on our Urban AC WSXT (STAR 99.7).  Our entire cluster did a lot of traffic reports and warning throughout the WEEKEND.  I have been through hurricanes but never flooding.  I opted to bump the HARVEY show again this morning and broadcast live because I felt it was necessary considering the seriousness of the situation.  All the schools are closed and I guess depending on where you work, a lot of businesses are probably not at full strength.  Downtown CHARLESTON is under water.  The rain is supposed to stop this afternoon."

ALPHA MEDIA/COLUMBIA, SC also went live and local with PD CHRIS CONNORS at Urban AC THE BIG DM 101.3 and NEEK at Urban HOT 103.9/93.9.  ABC WOLO-TV/COLUMBIA, SC News Anchor ALICIA BARNES provided news coverage and updates for both.

PD CHRIS CONNORS told ALL ACCESS, “All of our cluster stations pre-emptied Morning syndication and went live and local.  Normally DM RUNS STEVE HARVEY and HOT 'THE BREAKFAST SHOW.'  Fortunately we have personalities with the experience to go live in the Morning and inform people during this emergency.  The BIG DM alone reaches 82% of SC.  About 20,000 people are without power and COLUMBIA is under a Boil Advisory to boil water before drinking it.  All of our stations shared information and interview with the Mayor, SALVATION ARMY and the various officials involved in trying to keep everyone safe.  TODAY we are expecting 2 more inches of rain, then it is supposed to be in the 80’s and sunny the rest of the week. The problem right now is infrastructure; trees are down, power lines are down, and there are sink holes developing all over town.”

CUMULUS/COLUMBIA URBAN AC WLXC PD DOUG WILLIAMS, “I did updates SUNDAY and had the Mayor on.  Curfews went into effect last night from 6p-7a and the guys from last night got stuck there.  The roads have been closed and no one was being allowed to move around, our stations are downtown. I headed in on back roads and I really should not have been doing it, but I needed to get in there.  Our building is without water. We have 3 rivers here and they are all cresting. This is the worst thing I have seen and I have been here for 16 years come this JANUARY.  We are broadcasting to our listeners as often as we can during non-curfew hours.  The Mayor and the Governor are asking people to stay home.” 

SUMMIT MEDIA/GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG, SC OM ELROY SMITH told ALL ACCESS, "My area was not hit as hard as CHARLESTON and COLUMBIA, SC.  They are experiencing the bulk of the hurricane.  We kept our listeners posted on any essential updates, closings, road conditions etc.  We are now researching how we can be of help to our fellowmen in the SOUTH CAROLINA area.  We are here to assist in any way possible."

BYRNE ACQUISITION GROUP MB, LLC AC WYEZ (94.5 THE TIDE)/MYRTLE BEACH, SC PD WALLY B. tells ALL ACCESS, "We are currently on a state wide lock down and we are expecting more rain tonight.  We will continue to give out information on closings and safety updates until our staff can get back to work. Once the water recedes, the roads and bridges will need to be tested for safety so it's going to take a number of days for things to settle."

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