National authorities say there was a one in 1,000 chance of it happening in any given year. And it did.
When epic flooding overtook parts of South Carolina on Oct. 4, hundreds of water rescues were performed and many residents were displaced from their homes. Multiple dams were broken, and there are billions of dollars in damage. There were at least 19 flood-related deaths across the state.
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team sent chaplains to Columbia and Jedburg, South Carolina (northwest of Charleston) to offer emotional and spiritual care to residents trying to clean up and start over.
Unprecedented Catastrophe
“I still can’t comprehend what’s happened.”
Jim Reid walked around his neighborhood in Columbia, South Carolina, surveying heaps of water-soaked couches, clothing and warped home decor on either side of the street.
His neighbors were battered by the freak flood a few days earlier that evacuated hundreds across the city and left a lifetime of belongings completely destroyed or floating away.
Ten Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains were in the area Oct. 8, with six more joining the group by the weekend.
The team has already prayed with dozens of people recovering from the catastrophe—one that took the community by surprise.
Most people in Reid’s neighborhood had no flood insurance since their area isn’t in a designated flood zone. But over the weekend, dozens of houses were partially hidden under water.
Nearby, neighbor Joanne Willis took a break from cleanup. Wearing yellow dish gloves, she said this is the first time her home has flooded—and her father built the house in 1959. Now, her neighbors are picking dead frogs, fish and water moccasins out of their homes.
“My backyard was like a lake,” Reid said, adding that 16 inches of water got inside.
Early on the morning of Oct. 4, a fireman knocked on his door, telling him to get out. Meanwhile, he asked a neighbor with a boat to rescue a woman down the street.
“His boat was on the roof and he was yelling down the chimney,” Reid said, but fortunately, the neighbor got the woman to safety.
“It’s just an incredible amount of damage,” Rapid Response Team chaplain Joe Wilson said. “You see it on the news and see pictures, but until you get here, you don’t realize how bad it is.”
Wilson also lives in Columbia but escaped the damage.
For those who didn’t, fellow chaplain Sybil Davis-Highdale was struck by how well people are holding up. Those she prayed with were encouraged by the outpouring of support.
“The help has been overwhelming,” Reid said, and has given him hope. “You just deal with what you’re dealt. You have no choice. … As the FEMA guy said, these are just material things. I’ll survive.”
From Church Gym to Welcome Refuge
Almost overnight, Shandon Baptist Church transformed its gym into a collection and distribution center. With at least two dozen members impacted by the flood, the church was quick to spring into action.
Just a few days after the disaster, the church was buzzing with volunteers organizing donations: diapers, blankets, clothes, food, toiletries, pet food and mountains of water bottles.
“This is the first time I’ve ever personally been a part of something of this magnitude,” Executive Pastor Brandon Petersen said. “You go through all different kinds of emotions. From disbelief to shock. But then quickly, because I’m a believer, because of what you see through Jesus—it doesn’t surprise me to see how people are responding with their grace, their gratitude, their generosity.”
And locals coming to pick up provisions couldn’t have been more grateful.
“This is a blessing. This is what church is supposed to do,” Greg Bouknight said.
Bouknight and his mother, Virginia Green, both had flooding in their homes. Green shares a home with four grandchildren and came by Shandon Baptist to pick up some necessities.
Nearby, a young girl pulled a wagon, half reserved for a tiny sibling in a car seat, the other half full of supplies.
Eleventh-grader Madison Grim also spent the day helping out. She’s out of school all week as families regroup.
“I knew some people affected by it, so I wanted to come help,” Grim said, adding that her friend’s family was displaced after their lake home filled with water.
Petersen told of one church family with five children:
“When they woke up, they finally got their front door open and the water was probably up waist high, then soon, chest high,” he said. “Their kids and everything were just swept out the front door. They were able to fortunately get their five kids together and were able to hold onto the (floating) couches until they could get to a place where they could stand.”
‘I Intend to Rebuild’
The entire street smelled of wet garbage. Bulldozers filled dump truck after dump truck with debris, and yards were buried under anything and everything that used to be inside.
For Nola Huffman, it’s still home.
Huffman used to take a shortcut through the neighborhood going to work, and in 2008, jumped at the chance to buy a home there. She renovated the kitchen, painted the outside and landscaped.
But you couldn’t tell as her waterlogged home was being gutted by Samaritan’s Purse volunteers.
On the evening of Oct. 3, Huffman watched a football game, then went to bed. Hours later, as water leaked through her floorboards, she put her two dogs and cat in the car and drove to a friend’s house.
That Monday, she went to work, the weight of the flood damage yet to sink in. Then it hit home.
Her three grown daughters came to help clean up, and members of Huffman’s church came, too.
Amidst the scene of damage and destruction, one image stood out. The smile on Huffman’s face as she surveyed her belongings strewn across the garage floor, spilling into her yard and driveway.
“I intend to rebuild. I’m not going to let this move me out,” she said. “It is what it is. I’m here. God is good. And I’m just thankful for the sunshine.”
