access.wgbh.org >> you're watching news 19 at 7:00. good evening and thank you so much for joining us for news 19 at 7:00. the rain has stopped? some parts of the midlands but unfortunately it's not over for good. we are going to send things straight over to jim gandy. >> we've been watching very light rain showers moving through the area. this is the time lapse of radar. you can see how the showers are moving to the east, northeast at 35 miles per hour. and towards the end of the loop we have a few showers in aiken county and they're heading for orangeburg county and calhoun county.

and we've seen rain in columbia. at the airport, 24/100ths. 17/100ths in the city. that brings the monthly total to 4.5 inches in the city. today's rain pushed us up to 62.61 inches of rain, the 5th wettest year on record for columbia. currently, we have cloudy skies, and our temperature is still up there. 73degrees and it's humid and winds out of the southwest at 6 miles per hour. tonight we'll see a few showers more likely towards daybreak. 65degrees. and tomorrow we'll continue to see rain off and on with a high of 75 and the rain is going to continue into tomorrow evening with a low of 64 degrees. there's dry weather headed our way. we'll talk about that a little later. the elgin light christmas show has been bringing holiday cheer to many in the midlands for 18 years. this year, the creator has been

40,000 lights because of his own battle with cancer. he tells news 19 his treatment is not going well but that's not stopped him. and so far they've raised more than $10,000 to send 20 kids to camp chemo. tonight is the last show of the year and everyone is invited out to elgin. and that's where we find gentleman nay fraser. >> reporter: i'm on the hayride and there's lots of people having fun, enjoying the 40,000 lights and i'm joined by christine who has been working with elgin lights for 15 years. >> 18 years we started this when my brother joined the air force and it was just something to bring the family back together and we started out

lights on a house. and now we've grown to over 40,000 lights, trains, six buildings now, and we opened it up to the public and it takes a month and a half to put up the lights. it only took a week before. i've been learning how to put the lights up. and i do about 80% of the lights myself with my stepmom >> awesome. thank you so much. and if you want to get out here it's open until 9:00 tonight. it's the last night you can come out and enjoy 40,000 lights. and it's free for you but they are raising money for camp chemo. they've raised $17,000 so far and are trying to get to $20,000. if you haven't registered for fema assistance yet you

the deadline has been pushed back to january 4th. that's because the original deadline fell on a sunday. if you've already registered don't worry about it. you don't have to do anything. if you think fema has denied you once, it's okay. you should try again and you can appeal the denial. to register go to our website, www.wltx.com and that's where you can find a link under the flood recovery tab. and the national weather service issued a river flood advisory in columbia for the congaree. last night the congaree river level was 15 feet, a few feet away from the 19-foot flood stage. the national weather service believes between 10 and 15 feet through the end of the week. the river flooded last week from heavy rainfall. the river flood advisory is effective until this evening. meanwhile that boil water

about for west columbia has been postponed. the city tells news 19 that now saturday, starting at 9 a.m. and going all the way to 8 p.m, some residentings will be impacted by this. the city says it's to complete the relocation project. people in the affected areas are advised to boil the water for one minute before drinking it. if you want to find out if you're address is affected by this. go to our website and click on this story. well, the families around midlands will be getting much needed help from the floods. hundreds of volunteers have come together to get homeowners back on their feet following october. home repairs from mold removal to gutting are taking place build. one homeowner saw significant

>> water came in through the roof and it saturated the sheet rock so bad it came crashing down on the floor. and i was here at the time but i wasn't in the living room. >> reporter: volunteers are repairing his home and other homes. they've raised $300,000 to repair these houses. many call south carolina the buckle of the bible belt but the state and the midlands are filled with all types of religions. and governor nikki haley declared january to be the interfaith harmony month. >> we are all brothers and sisters in the human family. >> reporter: members of the interfaith partners of south carolina announced the launch of south carolina interfaith harmony month. as the chairman, he explains the group which has members of several different religions is using the month of january to

festivals that explore different faiths and cultures. >> we gather as faith communities and join together and have an exchange of dialogue and conversations about what it is to be that particular faith based person. what their traditions are as opposed to the others, how we are all very similar and more similar than we are different. >> a board member says in our world today there's a lot of misinformation if fear for people who are different. >> muslims are one point -- 25% of the global population. except-- a few thousand extremists could be in in this case religion, any society. they are entirely peace loving. islam means peace and security. >> the way to overcome fear is cross religious lines and learn from each other.

that you need to take time to listen to other people. >> group is hoping people take the time to listen and learn about each other's differences. news19, wltx. for more information about the events going on in january, go to our website, www.wltx.com. the clemson tigers face oklahoma on thursday in the orange bowl. the winner, of course, locks in a spot in the national championship. today was media day and even though he has been injured, receiver mike williams attended. on the first drive of the season against wofford, he caught and scored the first touchdown of the season. and he crashed hard into the goal post and the end result was a fractured neck. he is a junior so he will be back stronger than ever in 2016.

for christmas, don't forget to download the news 19 app. if you need a little help. mary strungle is explaining thousand to do that. >> you know the mobile devices under the christmas tree? you can put them to good use. all you have to do is download the news 19 wltx app. it's free. you can scroll through and all the news, weather, and headlines are at your fingertips. we have live newscasts. all you have to do is go to the mobile app and you can watch any of our newscasts that happen to be on during the day. another feature is called your take. all you have to do is find that little tab and click on it. and you can upload a picture to us and we can possibly use it on our website or in our newscast depending on what's going on. the app is free.

columbia will be living up to the famously hot slogan this week for the capital city's new year's eve celebration. coming up after the break,

need to keep the midlands beautiful is asking folks to recycle thier trees for their grinding of the greens keep the midlands beautiful is asking folks to recycle for

pick up free you have seen the amazing stories so many times. honor america's veterans for their sacrifices and take them on a one day trip to washington, d.c. to be able to see the memorials in their honor. of course the world war ii memorial and taking all the veterans there has been such an

in the midlands and bill dukes is the founder and chairman of honor flight south carolina. you have taken at this point bill how many vets to d.c? >> it's been over 2000. >> that's unbelievable. and when you started this program. talk about your vision and how it's changed since then? >> we started in 2008. the first flight was november of 2008. and we'd had a meeting and we decided we wanted to take our world war ii veterans -- as many as we could that had never had the opportunity to visit their memorial -- we wanted to provide them that opportunity. and we did that first flight. and we got such tremendous support from the media. and we just started receiving funds and then we did another flight and we kept going and the last october we did our 20th flight. our may flight will be the 21st flight.

what is the future of the honor flight? >> don't do that to me. we don't know. we're concerned that this may be the last flight because our primary mission was to honor our world war ii veterans. we've been blessed and again because of the generosity of the community, we've been blessed that we've been able to take almost 500 korean war veterans and we never had that in the original plan. but when we exhaust the world war ii veterans, we'll probably be at the end. that doesn't mean that if our community continues to support this idea of honor flight, we'll continue to strive and take as many world war ii veterans as there are or korean war veterans. >> no matter what sips we have so many veterans, maybe the program can transition to taking vets to the monuments.

opportunities down the road absolutely. and our board of directors is very reluctant to say that this is the last. the reality is that our world war ii veterans are very old and many of them are just not able to travel. >> give us the date -- >> may 11th. >> if someone wants to sign up they can do that.

>> thank you for all now the midlands most accurate forecast with jim gandy. >> it continues to be unseasonably warm. we averaged 29 degrees above normal and more importantly, the low temperature this morning was 37 degrees above normal. we saw a low temperature of 71 degrees at both the airport and city in both locations. it only warmed up to 67 degrees. and clouds and rain kept temperatures in a narrow range. the front has gone stationary. and we have clouds over the area and a stream of moisture here that's popping up over in aiken county and extending back to central georgia. that's moving our way. we'll continue to see the chance for a few showers this evening. and more of that rain will be towards today break tomorrow. the main storm system over the

coastal region of new england. but a lot of the precipitation has pretty much tapered off. and now just areas of clouds over a good part of the country and a good part of the country is cold. 68 in greenwood. and 73 in columbia. and 71 in sumter. and 73 in orangeburg. and in anderson they're behind the front at 62 degrees. the computer model showing tonight we'll see cloudy skies, rain towards daybreak. and we'll continue to see showers off and on tomorrow and tomorrow night. and then it tapers off and the computer model wants to get the chance in for a few showers for late thursday afternoon. when we take a look at the rainfall -- and this has just been updated -- still in the range of a half inch to an inch and a half of rain, more of the rain may be occurring in the northwestern part of the state. and that's something we'll be

rivers, for tonight lows 61 in newberry. 65 in columbia and camden. and tomorrow we're expecting a high of 71 in newberry. and 75 in columbia and sumter. and maybe up to 77 in st. matthews. here's the 7-day forecast. and that chance for rain pretty likely tomorrow. and then on thursday we see a few showers around. they'll be scattered. and the rain will come to an end. and on new year's day it's going to be cloudy and turning cooler. 58degrees. and dry over the weekend with decreasing cloudiness and colder temperatures settling in. 54 for a high on saturday and 57 on sunday. and monday another surge of cold air comes in.

degrees by 3 congratulations again to our famously hot new year contest winner--- sequoia thompson from richland county ... a huge congratulations to our viewer and contest winner from richland county. she stopped by to pick up the grand prize which includes a night for two at the inn at

and tickets to lots resolution for 2016 is to have more money....the city of columbia is ready to help...no they are not giving away free money but they free financial workshops... if your resolution for 2016 is to have more money, the city of columbia is going to help by offers fundamental workshops -- financial workshops on january 23, 30th. february6th. and you get to learn about the budget, a free lunch and a gift card. that's our time.

news 19 at 11:00. captured, the affluenza teen and his mom, caught at a fancy resort. look, he dyed his hair. what we have learned about their three weeks on the run in mexico. >> the just released 911 call. >> my scout master went into a cave and a bear is in the cave with him. >> brave boy scouts' call for help. >> if we don't make it out of this alive, i love you guys. >> the peyton manning investigation, his beautiful wife ashley under the spotlight. >> is human growth hormone annie tie aging wonder drug or a potential danger. >> this doctor says he uses it. can you believe he is 77?