Rivers crest, I-95 opens as South Carolina turns to recovery

CHAPIN, S.C. -- As the worst of the floodwaters that roared through South Carolina washed out to sea, Gov. Nikki Haley and other officials said Monday it is time to start recovering instead of reacting to the ongoing emergency.

Workers reopened the entire stretch of Interstate 95 southbound Monday, making it the first time in eight days that traffic on the major highway link from Florida to the Northeast didn't take a two-hour detour. Crews hope the northbound lanes would soon follow.

Again Monday, Haley refused to speculate how much damage in dollars the massive floods that started Oct. 2 have caused and how the state might pay to fix it. But she promised to rebuild.

"This is not going to take us years to get out of this," the governor said.

Haley also thanked volunteers, law enforcement and other workers for their time.

Those helping included people like Bob Kuenzli, who usually works as a police officer at a school in Chapin, but while school was cancelled last week, put on a South Carolina State Guard uniform and was assigned to help at a Columbia food bank.

Kuenzli, 68, was directing traffic Friday when a food bank volunteer, 72-year-old Charles Kauffman, became irritated Kuenzli was letting truck traffic move and stopping other cars.

"Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him coming my way," Kuenzli told reporters Monday. "He sped up and threw me. ... I got thrown to the ground."

An angry Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott made sure Kauffman was charged with attempted murder.

Kuenzli broke a bone in his wrist.

Thousands of other people in South Carolina have been working long hours, including crews continuing to fix a breach in the canal that supplies Columbia drinking water.

Reserve tanks had been refilled, and the city hopes to get all 375,000 of its customers off a boil water advisory soon.