Five years ago, the biggest flood in memory wreaked havoc on the Midlands when about 20 inches of rain fell in the area Oct. 4, 2015. The so-called "thousand-year rain" broke dams, swelled creeks to overflowing and flooded hundreds of homes and businesses, and some people have yet to fully recover from that event. Public utilities also were damaged. A very visible example is the Columbia Canal, near the point where the Broad and Saluda rivers join to form the Congaree River. The canal provides the city with half its drinking water. Assistant City Manager Clint Shealy remembers when the flood waters broke through the canal's embankment, spilling its waters into the river. "The flow coming from the Broad River was so great, and we were unable to contain that flow within our canal. The level in the canal overtopped the earthen embankment," and quickly eroded it away, said Shealy. "So we had a breach in our canal of between 80 and 100 feet." "So when the breach occurred and the river