Record floods kill 11 in US state of South Carolina

South Carolina residents on Tuesday reeled under the effects of weekend flooding that killed at least 11 people and left tens of thousands without power or drinking water.

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration on Monday, making federal aid available to the southern state that has been drenched with a level of rain that -- as Governor Nikki Haley put it -- the region has not seen in 1,000 years.

A tropical air mass over much of South Carolina starting Thursday dumped 14 inches (36 centimeters) of rain, a new record, according to the National Weather Service.

That downpour caused sudden and dramatic flooding, bursting dams and leaving residents scrambling for safety.

“It was traumatic, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Phyllis Jones, a 50-year resident of Columbia, the state capital.

Jones lives in an upstairs apartment at a complex called Willow Creek, whose namesake waterway inundated the ground-floor units on Sunday.

The rain tapered off on Monday and water receded, but Jones said she has not left her apartment “for fear of looting.” 

She had stocked up on drinking water ahead of the flooding, but then she lost power. At least four people have been killed in weather-related traffic <g data-gr-id="20">accidents,</g> while seven more have drowned, the Charleston Post and Courier newspaper reported.