Strange break / column breaking issue

[DRG]

Hello... I'm preparing a manuscript for publication, and I'm
encountering a strange error - the format is two column and I've never
had problems with it before but here's what I'm getting now - This
issues occurs around

(1) I use the figure enviroment [t] to include four figures. I've
positioned them to take up the full length of the first column.

(2) In the second column, I want to have a table and some text.

However, when I tried to do this, it forces the figures to the end of
the document. If I use \clearpage the figures print correctly to the
first column, but the table and text jump to the next page, leaving
the second column blank. I've tried variations of \pagebreak but am
having no luck in getting the information onto this stubbornly blank
2nd column. Any ideas ?

Thanks so much...