Clarendon County is looking at about 2.5 hours of rain left from Hurricane Matthew, according to Administrator David Epperson.
"It looks like it will begin to slack off after about 2:30 p.m. today," said Epperson. "We have flooded roads and trees down, along with power lines. We want people to stay off the road unless they absolutely have to get out of their house due to water intrusion. Stay home, if you can."
Epperson said that rain will drop off significantly after about 2 p.m., but the wind will continue through the evening.
"We will still have gusts throughout the day," he said. "And we could stil have rain, but according to forecasts, it's supposed to stop as much as it is raining now."
Thus far, according to The State newspaper, Clarendon County has seen the highest rain totals in the midlands, at 7.7 inches. As many as 4 inches is expected, according to the National Weather Service.
Epperson said that flooding has inundated "a lot of roads this year that did not see water last year."
"We are seeing roads that didn't flood last year now flooding," he siad. "When the rain stops and the water goes down a good bit, we will go ahead and start assessing the infrastructure damage. And then DOT will be out checking state roads once it's safe to go out."
Asked about the status of U.S. 301, which was heavily damages from the 1,000-year flood and has been closed since, Epperson said he has heard reports that its reconstruction "held up against the storm."
"We do have water crossing June Burn Road and others around there, but 301 has held up where the breaches happened last year," he said.
Rumors have abounded that Interstate 95 in Clarendon County is closed, but Epperson said they are untrue.
"In the Lowcountry, that is the case, but our portion of 95 is open," he said. "We have no reports of water crossing the road. That doesn't mean we want people out traveling, though."
