Two mental health patients killed after transport van overcome with flood water

MARION COUNTY, SC (WOLO) – Two mental health patients died in flood waters Tuesday (9/18) night in Marion County.

According to the Coroner there, the transport van the patients were in was overcome with flood water.

Coroner Jerry Richardson says the pair was being transported by the Horry County Sheriff’s Office, on their way to Darlington and Florence Counties.

It happened on Highway 76 near Pee Dee Island Road.

Richardson confirmed that two deputies were able to get out of the transport van, though could not confirm how the victims died.

The van will likely remain in the flood waters until Wednesday morning, according to the Coroner. </s> HORRY COUNTY, S.C. – Two mental health patients in South Carolina have died after being inside a transport van that flooded.

WPDE reported that it happened in Horry County on Highway 917 Tuesday night as the van was in still water on Pee Dee Island Road near the bridge.

The deputies in the van were rescued, but the patients who were chained in the back of the van died. Their names haven’t been released.

The patients were being taken from Loris Hospital and Waccamaw Mental Health Hospital to McLeod, according to WPDE.

Initial reports suggested that the victims were inmates, but officials have clarified that they were mental patients.

More information will be released as it becomes available. </s> Two female mental patients chained in the back of a county sheriff's van drowned when the vehicle in which they were traveling was overcome by floodwaters, police said. </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Officials say rivers in South Carolina could reach their highest levels by the end of this week or early next

Two mental health patients have died when the police van they were being transported in got caught in floodwaters in the US, police say.

The two officers escorting the pair were eventually rescued. The patients' deaths bring the death toll from Storm Florence to 37.

Thousands of homes and roadways in the region remain underwater less than a week after the storm made landfall.

President Donald Trump arrived in North Carolina on Wednesday to survey damage.

Mr Trump praised the response to the "devastating" storm by federal and local disaster officials at a news conference in North Carolina on Wednesday morning.

"Unfortunately, the money will be a lot, but it's going to come as fast as you need it," Mr Trump said. "We're going to take care of everybody."

Mr Trump will be heading to South Carolina next.

The storm's latest victims in South Carolina were identified as Wendy Wenton, 45, and Nicolette Green, 43, by the Marion County Coroner, US media report.

The Horry County Sheriff's Department said in a statement that when the waters overtook the van, they rose too quickly for the pair to be saved.

A high water team eventually rescued the two deputies who were escorting them. The deputies were able to climb atop the van as waters inundated the vehicle.

"Despite persistent and ongoing efforts, floodwater rose rapidly and the deputies were unable to open the doors to reach the individuals inside the van," the police statement said, according to the Greenville News.

"At this time, the recovery effort is ongoing, and the transportation vehicle cannot be removed due to rising waters and dangerous conditions."

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Florence has caused major flooding across the Carolinas

The detainees were women being transported from Waccamaw Mental Health and Loris Hospital to a behavioural health hospital in Darlington, South Carolina, according to the Associated Press.

"Tonight's incident is a tragedy," Sheriff Phillip Thompson told the Greenville News.

"Just like you, we have questions we want answered. We are fully co-operating with the State Law Enforcement Division to support their investigation of this event."

The tragic incident occurred near the Little Pee Dee River, which continues to rise as water from upriver North Carolina makes its way into South Carolina's waterways.

The Little Pee Dee has crested in some regions at over 46ft (14m) and its flooding has impacted town water supplies, officials say.

Florence has claimed eight lives in South Carolina thus far, and flooding is expected to worsen later this week and into next.

A long road to recovery

Thousands of homes are still underwater in the Carolinas and thousands of families have had to be rescued from the floods.

As of Wednesday, more than 3,000 people had been rescued in North Carolina and 20,000 federal and military personnel are supporting state efforts.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper called Florence "a storm like no other" during a news conference with Mr Trump and federal officials on Wednesday.

"We are a beacon in the South and we have weathered storms before in our state. But Mr President, we have never seen one like this. This one has been epic. It has been disastrous. It has been widespread."

Interactive Slide to see flooding in North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Florence After Before

Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), said the government is pushing disaster survivor assistance teams into the Carolinas.

"A disaster response like this takes all of us working together, not just the federal government," he said. "This event's not over. The rivers are still cresting we still have a lot of work to do."

The president has promised to completely support the Carolinas' recovery efforts.

"We will be there 100%," he said. "That's why we started early, and we'll be here late." </s> COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two female mental health patients detained for medical transport drowned Tuesday night when a sheriff’s department van was swept away in rising South Carolina floodwaters, according to authorities.

Horry County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Brooke Holden said that a sheriff’s office van was carrying two “detainees” and two deputies to Darlington when it was overtaken by floodwaters. Officials said that the van was near the Little Pee Dee River, one of the bodies of water that state officials are watching following the heavy rains of Florence.

READ MORE: Trump to visit flooded North Carolina in aftermath of Hurricane Florence

Marion County Coroner Jerry Richardson confirmed to The Associated Press early Wednesday the victims were Windy Wenton, 45, and Nicolette Green, 43.

“They’re still under the water,” he said. “It’s come up 2 feet since just last night.”

Richardson said the van came across rising water and was carried off the road.

WATCH: While Hurricane Florence may be gone, rising floodwaters still a problem in the Carolinas

“They were trying to negotiate through fast-running water, and it just didn’t work out,” he told AP.

Holden said that deputies tried to get the victims out but couldn’t. Rescue teams plucked the deputies from the top of the van.

WATCH: Flooding causes boats to wash ashore in North Carolina

Horry County Deputy Tom Fox told WPDE-TV the victims were mental health patients being transported from one facility to another. Holden wouldn’t give further details on the victims’ status, citing an ongoing state police investigation. State police spokesman Thom Berry told the AP on Wednesday that agents were on the scene aiding in the recovery effort.

In a release, Horry County Sheriff Phillip Thompson said his office would cooperate with the probe.

“Tonight’s incident is a tragedy,” he said. “Just like you, we have questions we want answered.” </s> Two women in the back of a sheriff’s van drowned Tuesday evening when deputies tried to drive down a South Carolina road flooded by tropical storm Florence.

The Horry County Sheriff’s Office described the women as detainees, although a county coroner told the Associated Press they were mental-health patients — Windy Wenton, 45, and Nicolette Green, 43 — being transported to a facility farther inland.

“They were trying to negotiate through fast-running water, and it just didn’t work out,” said the coroner, Jerry Richardson.

Richardson said the deputies and two patients began the trip that afternoon from a hospital near Conway, where tributaries of the Pee Dee River are overflowing their banks. They traveled northwest, on their way to Darlington about 100 miles away, across an obstacle course of blocked roads and swollen waters.

They were about halfway through the trip by 6 p.m., on Highway 76 near the Little Pee Dee River, when the van encountered the running water. According to some accounts, water swept the vehicle off the road.

In a statement, the sheriff’s office said the two deputies escaped from the cab and tried to get the women out of the back. “Despite persistent and ongoing efforts, floodwater rose rapidly, and the deputies were unable to open the doors,” the statement reads.

By the time a rescue team arrived, the deputies were stranded on top of the van, and it was too late for the women. Richardson, who serves as coroner in adjacent Marion County, confirmed their deaths that night, but authorities had to leave the bodies and van in the water until conditions were less hazardous.

"They’re still under the water,” Richardson told the AP on Wednesday morning. “It’s come up two feet since just last night.”

Horry County referred all questions about the incident — including whether the women had been locked up or were merely being transported — to state investigators, who said they had no new information to release.

Mental hospitals from which the women were reported to have been taken could not immediately be reached for comment. The two deaths will push Florence’s toll across three states to nearly 40 victims.

“Tonight’s incident is a tragedy,” Horry County Sheriff Phillip Thompson said in Tuesday’s statement. “Just like you, we have questions we want answered.”

More headaches as Florence’s waters overtake toxic pits and hog lagoons

‘We need help’: N.C. towns plead for dam, levee upgrades after second major flood in two years

After Florence, North Carolina grapples with floods, outages and endless water </s> Two mental health patients who drowned when a sheriff’s van was swept away by floodwaters are among the dozens killed by Storm Florence.

Two mental health patients who drowned when a sheriff’s van was swept away by floodwaters are among the dozens killed by Storm Florence.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has arrived in storm-ravaged North Carolina and helped volunteers at a church in the hard-hit coastal town of New Bern.

“How’s the house?” Mr Trump was heard asking one person as he distributed plastic foam containers of food, including hot dogs, chips and fruit. “You take care of yourself.”

Wilmington, population 120,000, was still mostly an island surrounded by floodwaters, and people waited for hours on Tuesday for handouts of food, water and tarps. Thousands of others around the state waited in shelters for the all-clear.

“I know it was hard to leave home, and it is even harder to wait and wonder whether you even have a home to go back to,” governor Roy Cooper said.

After submerging North Carolina with nearly 3ft of rain, the storm dumped more than 6.5 inches of rain in the northeast, where it caused flash flooding.

Mr Cooper warned that the flooding is far from over and will get worse in places.

“I know for many people this feels like a nightmare that just won’t end,” he said.

Addressing roughly 10,000 people who remain in shelters and “countless more” staying elsewhere, Mr Cooper urged them to stay where they are for now, particularly those from the hardest-hit coastal counties that include Wilmington, near where Florence blew ashore on Friday.

Roads remain treacherous, he said, and some are still being closed for the first time as rivers swelled by torrential rains inland drain toward the Atlantic.

In South Carolina, two women died on Tuesday evening after a van taking the mental health patients from one facility to another was overtaken by rising floodwaters near the Little Pee Dee River, authorities said.

The risk of environmental damage mounted, as human and animal waste was washed into the swirling floodwaters.

More than 5 million gallons of partially treated sewage spilled into the Cape Fear River after power went out at a treatment plant and the earthen dam of a pond holding hog waste was breached, spilling its contents. The flooding killed an estimated 3.4 million chickens and 5,500 hogs on farms. </s> Several questions remain unanswered after two South Carolina mental health patients died yesterday. The victims, both female, were being transported in a police van when floodwaters overtook their vehicle.

A Horry County Sheriff's Office van was taking Windy Wenton, 45, and Nicolette Green, 43, to McLeod Behavorial Health in Darlington, South Carolina, Chief Deputy Tom Fox told WLTX. Two deputies were in the van with them, though Wenton and Green were in the back.

Disaster struck when the van was overcome by flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, which has devastated the region in recent days. Both deputies escaped the van, then attempted to save Wenton and Green. But "despite persistent and ongoing efforts, floodwater rose rapidly and the deputies were unable to open the doors to reach the individuals inside the van," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

The deputies made it to the top of the van, where they were rescued by a high-water team. But nothing could be done to save the two women they were transporting. Both women were declared dead last night, Marion County Coroner Jerry Richardson told WPDE, though first responders were not immediately able to retrieve the van with their bodies in it. "They're still under the water," Richardson told the Associated Press this morning. "It's come up two feet since just last night."

In a statement, Horry County Sheriff Phillip Thompson called the deaths a "tragedy," while noting that the two deputies have been placed on administrative leave. "Just like you, we have questions we want answered," he said.

One of the biggest questions: Were Wenton and Green shackled in the back of the van?

Multiple outlets, including ABC News, the New York Post, and the New York Daily News, say the patients were either "shackled" or "chained." When reached for comment by Reason, a spokesperson for the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, which is investigating the incident, said he couldn't confirm that they were shackled. He explained the van was still underwater, though officials were working on a "plan" to recover it later today.

Determining whether Wenton and Green were in chains is important. If they were, then that could have kept them from escaping the van with their lives. It would also raise another question: Why were two mental health patients chained up in the back of a police van in the first place? And why were they moved yesterday, and not before Florence made landfall, especially when state and local officials knew for days that severe flooding was likely?

The deaths of Wenton and Green bring the storm's deathtoll to 37. Though in this case, it's possible Florence isn't to blame so much as the officers transporting the two women and the department that waited so long to relocate them. </s> A total of 94 mentally ill patients died when they were moved from the licensed Life Esidimeni private homes to 27 unlicensed facilities.

Patients died of starvation and lack of water in the overcrowded nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) they were placed‚ according to the health ombudsman‚ Prof Malegapuru Makgoba.

He has found that the Department of Health was negligent when it moved 1‚900 patients from Life Healthcare facilities.

He said the number of fatalities was provisional as bodies remained unidentified in morgues and some families were still coming forward with the names of dead people. His report is titled 94 silent deaths and still counting. </s> At least 94 patients with mental health issues died after South African authorities moved themfrom hospitals to unlicensed health facilities that were likened to concentration camps, a government investigation has revealed.

Many of the deaths were due to pneumonia, dehydration and diarrhoea as the patients were hurriedly moved to 27 “poorly prepared” facilities in an apparent cost-cutting measure that showed evidence of neglect.

The health ombudsman report, which has sparked uproar, detailed how some patients were collected from the Life Esidimeni hospital in Gauteng province last year using open pickup trucks.

As the scandal broke, the provincial health minister, Qedani Mahlangu, resigned over the findings, which directly implicated her in the move.

According to the report, which was reportedly compiled after 80 hours of listening to family members and inspectors during the investigation – relatives were left in the dark over where the patients were, in unheated centres that some witnesses said were like concentration camps.

The centres also failed to provide seriously ill patients with enough food and water, leaving them severely malnourished, underweight and in some cases dying from dehydration.

Gauteng’s provincial health department had terminated its longstanding contract with the Life Esidimeni hospital and moved more than 1,300 patients to an “unstructured, unpredictable, substandard caring environment”, the report said.

“One person has died from a mental health-related illness. None of the 93 [others] have died from a mental illness,” the health ombudsman, Malegapuru Makgoba, told local media as the report was released.

“The Gauteng health department took patients from a licensed institution and handed them over to unlicensed facilities.”

Makgoba said the death toll was likely to rise as investigations continued into the scandal.

The report pointed towards the neglect that led to the deaths being caused by profit-seeking. The 27 healthcare centres “were mysteriously and poorly selected” and were “unable to distinguish between the highly specialised non-stop professional care requirements … and a business opportunity”, it said.

Gauteng’s premier David Makhura vowed to hold accountable all the responsible officials.

The opposition Democratic Alliance party expressed outrage over the findings, and accused the government of lying about the death toll when reports of the tragedy began to emerge.

“Criminal charges should also be laid against all implicated parties,” said the party’s provincial shadow health minister.
The death toll rises to 37 after two mental health patients died when the police van in which they were being transported got caught in floodwaters.