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Floodwaters rise as a vehicle and a man navigate flooded streets in Florence, S.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015. The rainstorm drenching the East Coast brought more misery Sunday to South Carolina, cutting power to thousands, forcing hundreds of water rescues and closing scores of roads because of floodwaters. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
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Record rainfall in South Carolina

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Record rainfall in South Carolina

The latest on the rainstorm that is pounding parts of the East Coast (all times local):

7:25 a.m.

Record rainfall totals have been recorded in South Carolina’s capital city as part of historic flooding that has deluged the area.

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The National Weather Service says Sunday was the wettest day in the history of Columbia. The rainfall total at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport was 6.87 inches, the most rain that’s ever fallen there in one day.

Forecasters say the old record of 5.79 inches was set July 9, 1959.

The two-day rainfall total for Saturday and Sunday was 10.44 inches. That breaks the old record of 7.69 inches set over August 16 and 17, 1949.

Since Friday, more than 20 inches of rain has fallen in some parts of Columbia. The Weather Service says Gills Creek, an area that has seen neighborhoods and thoroughfares under water, had recorded 20.28 inches as of early today.

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The storm stretched beyond South Carolina - in Georgia, more than 14,000 customers were still without power early today. That’s down from 33,000 at the height of outages in the state. Many of the outages were in hard-hit Habersham County, where schools are closed today. Rain and high winds that toppled trees caused the outages.

6:50 a.m.

Authorities have released information about a South Carolina Department of Transportation worker killed in the aftermath of torrential rains and historic flooding in the state.

The agency says in a news release that 45-year-old Timothy Wayne Gibson died in flood waters Sunday while overseeing work near downtown Columbia.

DOT says Gibson was working on Garners Ferry Road, a major thoroughfare into the capital city that has seen feet of water pooling in residential and commercial areas.

Transportation officials say Gibson was with the agency’s Richland Maintenance Unit and was traveling in a truck that was caught in rushing waters, overturned and was swept away. An autopsy is scheduled today.

So far, at least seven deaths have been blamed on the vast storm that has forced hundreds from their homes, canceled schools and prompted rescues of stranded citizens by water and air.

6 a.m.

Thousands of South Carolina residents are waking up to homes without electricity after historic flooding throughout the state.

An online coverage map showed that power was out early today for more than 13,500 South Carolina Electric & Gas customers. Nearly 12,000 of those outages were in Richland and Lexington counties, where flood waters have been abundant in many neighborhoods and commercial areas.

Duke Energy said that about 7,800 of its customers had no electricity, primarily in the northwestern corner of South Carolina.

As of late Sunday afternoon, officials said more than 6,000 electric cooperative customers were without power, most of those also in the central and northwestern parts of the South Carolina.

5:50 a.m.

A mother and her infant affected by historic South Carolina flooding have been rescued from their roof top via helicopter.

The U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release that a crew plucked Cristi Mueller and her 15-month-old daughter Kailynn Walts from the roof of their home in Huger in Berkeley County.

Crews got reports at around 6:20 a.m. Sunday that the family was stranded due to severe flooding in the neighborhood.

A crew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Georgia, was launched to rescue the two. Mueller and her daughter were taken to Mt. Pleasant Regional Airport. Officials say the woman and her child were not hurt.

4:45 a.m.

Days of torrential rains kept much of South Carolina and its capital gripped by floodwaters early today as emergency responders promised renewed door-to-door searches for anyone still trapped after a weekend deluge and hundreds of rescues.

At least seven weather-related deaths have been blamed on the rainstorm that has lingered for days and been linked to an unusually deep low pressure system. The storm dumped so much rain on South Carolina and parts of surrounding states that even veteran weather experts called it unprecedented.

Police in Columbia, the capital city, said searchers would go door-to-door in the hardest-hit areas later today for any still seeking safety. And it could take weeks or longer to ensure the safety of numerous roads, highways and bridges rendered impassible by a historic rainstorm that pummeled South Carolina.

10:45 p.m.

Police in the flooded South Carolina capital of Columbia say they and other emergency crews will continue with “concentrated search and rescue operations” early today.

Columbia Police Chief William Holbrook issued a statement saying the operations would check for any people in the city and nearby Richland County still needing evacuation from flooded areas.

He urged anyone still needing to get to safety to call 911.

“The operation will also include overall welfare checks,” he said, adding crews will mark the front doors of homes checked with a fluorescent orange X once searched.

Anyone found is to be taken out on military vehicles to safety, he added.

First Published October 5, 2015, 11:52 a.m.

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Floodwaters rise as a vehicle and a man navigate flooded streets in Florence, S.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015. The rainstorm drenching the East Coast brought more misery Sunday to South Carolina, cutting power to thousands, forcing hundreds of water rescues and closing scores of roads because of floodwaters. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Tameca Sheriff comforts her father, Napoleon Sheriff, as they wait out the flood waters in an American Red Cross Shelter in Georgetown, S.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015. Much of South Carolina has experienced historic rain totals coupled with an unusually high lunar tide causing wide spread flooding. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The Congaree River, swollen with floodwaters, flows under the Gervais Street bridge in West Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015. Hundreds were rescued from fast-moving floodwaters Sunday in South Carolina as days of driving rain hit a dangerous crescendo that buckled buildings and roads, closed a major East Coast interstate route and threatened the drinking water supply for the capital city. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Maria Braun changes her grandson Bryice Braun's diaper in an American Red Cross Shelter in Georgetown, S.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015. Much of South Carolina has experienced historic rain totals coupled with an unusually high lunar tide causing wide spread flooding. Braun said she had to evacuate Sunday morning when the water got to deep at her Hilliard St. home. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
A road closed barricade blocks a flooded street in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015. Numerous roads in Brunswick and New Hanover counties in southeastern North Carolina are impassable as a storm system that inundated South Carolina moves north. (Mike Spencer/The Star-News via AP) LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
A truck with a passenger drives through a flooded parking lot in Florence, S.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015 as heavy rain continues to cause flooding through many parts of the state. The rainstorm drenching the East Coast brought more misery Sunday to South Carolina, cutting power to thousands, forcing hundreds of water rescues and closing scores of roads because of floodwaters. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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