COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The Latest on Hurricane Matthew’s impacts on South Carolina (all times local):
9:35 p.m.
Officials in Beaufort County say they aren’t ready to allow residents back on Hilton Head Island and other barrier islands.
The county said in a news release that there is still major damage to clean up and infrastructure that must be repaired, including a sinkhole on the Harbor Island Causeway leading to Hunting and Fripp islands.
While state officials lifted the evacuation order for Beaufort County on Sunday evening, county leaders said there will be police officers at the bridges to Hilton Head Island and other barrier islands restricting access only to emergency crews and cleanup workers.
Authorities did not say when residents might be able to return to the islands.
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8:15 p.m.
Authorities have lifted the evacuation orders in Beaufort and Jasper counties caused by Hurricane Matthew, but it will be Monday morning before most people can return to their homes.
Gov. Nikki Haley lifted the orders at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. But with Beaufort County on a curfew starting at 7 p.m., hundreds of people who waited by the side of highways for hours waiting to get back into their homes were going to have to spend the night in hastily arranged shelters.
The governor lifted the evacuation orders in four other counties Sunday morning. Horry and Georgetown counties remain under the orders, even though North Myrtle Beach welcomed back visitors Sunday afternoon.
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5:30 p.m.
Authorities say the death toll from Hurricane Matthew in South Carolina is now at three people.
Two people died in Florence County. Sheriff Kenney Boone said in a news release that divers Sunday recovered the body of a man who drove his car into the water at a washed out bridge.
Authorities say the body of a second man in Florence County was found in a vehicle swept off a different bridge.
The coroner has not released the name of either victim.
The third storm death happened in Richland County. The coroner says 66-year-old David Outlaw drowned at a Columbia nursing facility when he got pinned under his electric wheelchair in water after the heavy rains.
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5:25 p.m.
A bomb squad is at a South Carolina beach after Hurricane Matthew apparently unearthed old Civil War cannonballs from the sand.
Charleston County Sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Eric Watson said in a news release that the cannon balls were found on Folly Beach Sunday afternoon, but bomb squad members couldn’t get to it immediately because of the rising tide.
Once the ocean level goes down, Watson says technicians will make it safe. He warned residents might hear a small boom.
The first shots of the Civil War were fired at nearby Fort Sumter in 1861.
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4:55 p.m.
About 625,000 customers remained without power nearly a day after Hurricane Matthew moved away from South Carolina.
Most of the outages are in the eastern part of the state. All four major utility groups that provide electricity say they have brought in extra crews.
But it still will be days before power is fully restored. Crews can’t make it to hundreds of outages because of fallen trees and damaged roads.
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12:45 p.m.
A second death related to Hurricane Matthew has been reported in South Carolina.
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said in a news release Sunday afternoon that a man was found outside his nursing home in Columbia, pinned beneath his electric wheelchair and face-down in standing water from the rains of the storm.
Watts said 66-year-old David L Outlaw was found shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday. The coroner said Outlaw was taken to Providence Northeast Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly before 11 a.m.
Watts said an autopsy indicated that Outlaw drowned.
Watts said his office and the sheriff’s department are investigating.
A woman who answered the phone at the center would not comment Sunday afternoon.
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12:05 p.m.
It took rescuers hours to make their way to a vehicle that was swept off a road in Florence County during massive floods caused by Hurricane Matthew
Florence County Emergency Management spokesman Andrew Golden said a witness called 911 after seeing the vehicle disappear around noon Saturday.
Golden says the vehicle was swept a ways downstream. The swift current and heavy rains hampered attempts by rescuers to get to the vehicle for about four hours.
The coroner’s office has not released the name or other information about the victim.
Parts of Florence County received more than 10 inches of rain from the hurricane. Golden says numerous roads remain impassible because of flooding and downed trees and there are widespread power outages. Some first responders have said the damage is worse than Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
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10:45 a.m.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says one person has died in floodwaters from the heavy rains in Hurricane Matthew.
Haley said Sunday that the victim was in a car and was swept away in Florence County. More details were not immediately available.
Otherwise, the governor says the state continues to recover. Officials say all the interstates are reopened and crews are trying to cut down trees blocking about 300 other roads and highways.
Haley says nearly 750,000 customers remain without power in the state, down from the peak of about 850,000.
Haley says she is lifting evacuation orders in Berkeley, Colleton, Charleston and Dorchester counties. She says it will be up to local officials to tell her when to allow coastal residents back into other counties.
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