news 19 gives you a hook at what's going on behind the scenes. >> it is so much more effort than people would ever understand. they come down here and they join thousands of their friends and family members and they have fabulous times. they watch biggest fireworks -- they watch the biggest fireworks and they love and hug and dance and think. but our planning literally starts the february before the december 31. >> barbara brax is one of the many minds behind the new yeye's eve celebration, she remembers the first time she attended the event. >> all different kinds of communities and color, and they were all smiling and laughing and enjoying each other. it was an opportunity to draw people together as opposed to all of the things that we have that will pull us apart. >> reporter: since then she's

event bigger and better every single year, which means a lot of work behind the scenes. >> and seeing this incredible transformation of everything that was just people on scaffolds and bunches of wire suddenly become a backstaging area of lights and people and fun and i mean it is magical. >> reporter: another player in the event is law enforcement. assistant fire marshal says at their job starts welel before new year's eve. >> there's a lot of coordination that there are a lot of efforts that will go in to the columbia police department. and then basically, you know, our job is to make sure that it is safe, but we also have to think about what if there is an event where they could get the people out. >> reporter: of course the people in charge of the lights and the sounds of the events like david's niece. >> it's a bit of a coordination and a good bit of hundreds and hundreds for our part and just hundreds and hundreds of man hours, and what the set up is

and ours is a part of the whole, you know, event. >> reporter: and all that time spent planning and staging and preparing comes to a single moment. a moment that everyone could enjoy before the planning starts all over again. >> when the fireworks start going off behind the state capitol, it's a phenomenon. it's something that you can't hope to see any place else. >> reporter: savannah levins news 9. >> all the preparation is starting in 27 minutes now, but that doesn't mean our team is out there getting you a look at what's going on. news 19 yssa lala joins us. how is it looking out there? >> reporter: yeah, colby, things are just kind of starting to get underway. the vendors have been out here for a while. when i say vendor, really anything that you could think

eve, all your party favors and foods from hats, shining blinking lights, necklaces, anything that you could possibly want to make noise with to ring i i2016. u find it t here on main street. all the lights starting to come together and things are getting lit up, doing sound checks earlier with the bands that are going to be performing out here. it is definitely going to be a rocking new year's eve, probably a lot better than last year if i might say so myself. but the stage back here looks beautiful. not a ton of people out here yet, but we are anticipating a big crowd to come in and ring in the famously hot new year. the one thing people were worried about was the l. i can beautiful temperatures. i'm not cold. you can see we're not wearing a jacket with no rain, perfect night so far. not famously hot though, which we are famously hot for. come out and enjoy us for a famously hot new year. news 19.

you in the studios, colby? >> thanks, alyssa. we tried to give you a look at the stage, but let's give you a different angle. darci strickland is on the stage. >> thank you so much. less than six hours left of 2015 and we're so excited that our viewers at home will be able to wrap up 2015 with wltx. you can probably hear the guy behind me doing the last final touches because it is going to be an amazing night. for those of you at home who have been following us on social media, you know that miss lauren hill has done her sound check. the three bands that have opened up for her are doing the same. one of the things about the famously hot new year is that every year there is a great angle to this party and an angle to this party that means you can come out and celebrate and have a good time and that you can do that and give back to your community at the same time asaswe all know what happened with the floods in

absolutely devastating. because of that there is now that flood relief fund, the organizers that are asking anyone to come out tonight that this is a free event to dig in your pockets and to make this your one big last donation for 2015. no donation is too small. that is going to go very far to help families who are still struggling because of the historic floods back in october. they're encouraging those of you to come out and bring a canned good, because when you do that, that goes to harvest hope and again it is your opportunity to help your neighbors. we are so excited about wrapping up 2015 with those of you who are watching us here at home. honestly the weather, it is not bad as you can see for yourself that i'm wearing a sleeveless dress and that i'm pretty comfortable right now.

chief meteorologist is live in the studio, jim, we need to hear no rain in the forecast. and i don't know if that is what we want to hear. >> and we have been living a charmed life so far. wewee been on the doorsteps of some rain and it has managed to stay just to our south. this is a time lapse over the last three hours as we are right at the northern edge of the rain, passing just to the south of columbia. if you are down in orangeburg, over manning or any of those areas, it's been raining much of the afternoon. however, we've been watching back to our west and notice how a lot of this is diminishing right now. good news. it looks like it will stay to the south with a slight chance of any rain here in columbia, basically staying to the south and i think that it will stay that way and it will be pretty nice. by the time they get to midnight, it may only be about 60 degrees.

cloudy with the wind out of the south. the front hasn't come through yet as expect that to come through overnight. and in the morning at 63. obviously that at midnight and tomorrow, it will stay cloudy, expecting a high temperature coming up. >> thank you, jim. there is a lot of anticipation for tonight's concert in the fireworks show with a ton of stuff to do before the big event. it will be warm outside, but you can have a little chill with main street ice, going on from now until midnight as we have all the prices available on our website wltx.com. and also don't forget you can find plenty to do with the little ones at the new year's eve carnival. this is video featuring tons of games, rides, inflatables, also face painting for the kids. the carnival kicked off a few minutes ago running until 11:00 p.m. and now if music is more of your thing, we also have you covered. concert dates open off the 30.

7:00 starting with a bunch of south carolina natives. hailing from charleston, they will take the stage first and then justin smith from lexington and columbia will perform at 8:00. then another charleston band rocks the city starting at 9:00. and finally ready or not, here she comes. lauren hill will perform starting at 10:30. she is scheduled to end at 11:55 leading right in to the midnight festivities and fireworks. then hill will perform a finale until around 12:30. with so much happening downtown columbia tonight, parking definitely going to be limited for all of you getting out. there one way to avoid some of the congestion to take the bus. and the common day is $3 for the all-day pass and six park and ride locations for only $3 as well as you can purchase a pack. but only cash will be accepted with the parking garages around the main street area that will

make sure that you plan ahead. if you are planning on drinking right now, to make sure to be responsible and that they will be stationed near the fountain at five points, near the tin roof. and near the corner of lady street from 11:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. new year's day. and the first $10 are covered as long as you are taking advantage of the program that you must call the yellow cab prior to the ride or let them know that you are a beverage alert cab rider. and tonight's festivities will have a direct impact on the wet roads and the rundown of what is closed right now. the east and westbound lanes, 12900 block of main street as well as the 1100 and 1200 block of lady street. all those roads should reopen around 8:00 tomorrow morning. while many think of the new year as a fresh start, the

continue to affect the lives of midland residence well in to 2016. after seceg opened the flood gates, some in the back of the neighborhood saw water begin to rise. some of the residence had been rebuilding their homes and they had their crawl spaces flooded again. another resident, tereka holly is trying to raise her home to flood standards, but she says that the constant flooding has made it discouraging to rebuild. >> and like i said i have a family and every time it rains, that i just want to know where the problem is. are they suppose to be fixing the down. like is there a reason that they need to release the water or do homeowners here have to keep fixing the problem? and any time they would just release the water? >> and the florida river and kinley creek run, they will run along the subdivision. we're going to take a look at how the forecast is shaping up with many of you planning to

we'll have your welcome back. well you are taking a live look tonight as preparations continue for the famously hot new year's eve party. this shot comes from the meridian building. and thank you for allowing us to show you this shot.

the new year in different ways, but the common tradition, of course, new year's resolution as we asked on facebook what some of yours were and many of you responded. here are some of the responses. david salisbury says i don't make new year's'sresolutions and i never promise to be somewhere many months in advance except for doctors appointments. makes sense. stacy smith writes, "i do make them, i just take them one day at a time." and this one is from barreli to keep building my relationship with the lord. we do have one more from allen hall who writes to stop making new year's resolutions because i nevevestick to them. and now i think that one resolution that a lot of people will have on their minds to cut my use of umbrellas and rain jackets. >> i'm sure a lot of people would like to make that resolution. but it depends on the weather. the weather looks good as we have been watching all day. the rain is passing to the south.

down in orangeburg and raining over in sumter. and the trajectory of this rain keeps it to the south of columbia. so we might see a few sprinkles, but for the most part it's been great outside. so it has been mild. now here is the front. it is very slow to move through and it may be after midnight before it comes to the area. then once you get behind the front there's not much run. i think we'll be fine. but right now it seems like all the south. now. across a good part of the country with the high pressure that is angered back, but extending in to the southeast. all the way in to the northeast

kind of the island of the warm weather. it is 61 at greenwood and augusta, but 68 degrees here in columbia. 69 degrees with rain down in orangeburg. notice them keeping that rain just to the south to move it out. all likely to see the cloudiness around midnight and it will stay that way through the morning and midnight tonighgharound 60 degrees. in contrast to last year where it was brutally cold. this year it will not be. skies will start to clear tomorrow night. on saturday, we're expecting partly cloudy skies. for tonight these low temperatures will be around daybreak, expecting a lot of 48 in newbury. 53 in columbia and manning. 58 in sumter and our seven-day

dry through the weekend. we will see some sunshine. and then another surge of cold air will come in on monday. right now we're expecting the low temperature e of 29 with the high of 49. from there we'll start to warm up. but by then a few more clouds and a slight chance for showers. and after all of the wet weather that we have seen, it looks like we may see a week with no rain. >> that is a very good start. >> if we keep that to the south it looks like it will be, a fantastic new year. >> okay. i hope that we could see them start the new year right and continue it for as long as possible.

we'll have more of starting at 8:00 is the big bang theory. next atat9:00 is mom.

start our famously hot of course right now we're talking about what else the orange bowl, number one clemson and oklahoma going at it. right now as we speak, also the first team all american that went out early done for the game. he scored their only touchdown. good news for the fans, the former bengal put up three field goals. but you don't want field goals against oklahoma. you'll want touchdowns, the half time tigers trailing 17-16 as they will get the ball to start the second half. the status of things going down. of course they will meet the winner of alabama and michigan state for the national title going out in glendale, arizona. but the first thing first,

tight one right now. on the last day of 2015, the new head coach will muschamp will coach the defensive line and be the assistant head coach. he is also having three stints of alabama. they are still within reach as they left lsu after one season to become the coordinator. this is the second straight year that lsu has lost their coordinator. and it is also a native.

they hung 63 that's right, we are live here at famously hot new year's, downtown columbia. the crowd trickling on in, but

you can see more people standing around the main stage here, expecting a big crowd later this evening. and now the rain has moved on out. and don't let that stop you whatsoever. and it will be breezy. and if you are coming out this way that the cold front will move their way and you can see it bouncing in the wind. but as far as they are concerned, it looks perfect. come on down and ring in 2016 here on mainstream reporting live from main street, we'll nd it back to you in the studios. >> all right, thank you, daniel. while it looks like a perfect night to be out there again. and this concert starts at 7:00 with many that are performing starting to lead up to lauren hill. of course the moment that everybody is waiting for is a look outside right now at the famously hot new year's celebration as we wililbe live

the show goes on with a shot from the meridian building. you're looking at the state house right now as they are starting to trickle in, expecting them to pick up in the next half hour as we would head in to that concert and a couple of things to remember, please schedule a ride. you also have six pots where you -- six spots to park your car. and you also have the cabs that they are offering a program with the first $10 free if you're going to the residence or the hotel in richland and lexington county with plenty of ways to get there safe.

we'll see yo >> quijano: new year's fears, fire in a high-rise hotel, then