"Deluge Overwhelmed Dams, Exposed Lax State Oversight"

"A biblical torrent here in October 2015 destroyed 51 dams, flooded hundreds of homes and businesses and led to more than 15 deaths. Officials say the disaster is a cautionary tale for a patchwork of weak, underfunded state dam oversight agencies across the country."

"COLUMBIA, S.C. — The heavens opened late on Oct. 3, 2015, unleashing a torrent on Jason Snyder's house and the dams and man-made lakes above it.

At about 5 a.m. the next day, Snyder, 44, packed up his wife and two kids. They walked up the street to a neighbor's house on higher ground.

When he returned to his place minutes later, water from one of the most polluted creeks in the state was knee-high and rising."

Jeremy P. Jacobs reports for Greenwire April 10, 2017.

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