South Carolina: Flood and Recovery

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

This weekend may bring back painful memories to many Midlands residents who survived the biggest flood the state has seen in memory, which climaxed on Oct. 4, 2015. What officials called a "thousand year rain" dumped about 20 inches of rain on the region in one day. Filled to overflowing by that rain, ponds throughout the area broke their dams and added their waters to already swollen rivers and streams like Gills Creek, which crosses - and destroyed - three major traffic arteries in the capital city. Columbia schoolteacher Tammy Davis, who lives near Gills Creek, remembered the flood by its toughest effect on her and her daughter. "The hardest thing was being displaced. And I remember at the beginning I really thought by Halloween I was going to be back in my house. I'm glad I didn't know what was all was ahead of me." Davis's house suffered major damage from flood waters, but was repaired with the help of time and a good contractor. "Somebody compared it to remodeling a home, and I

The aftermath of the October 2015 flood continues to occupy the business of many people and agencies in South Carolina, such as the East Richland County Public Service District (ERCPSD), which operates the sewer system for a section of the county heavily damaged by the flood. ERCPSD Deputy Director Ed Schooler said the flood changed the route of the system’s pipes, knocking many right out of the ground. Two and a half years later, the system has learned it has been awarded a $1.6 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to replace damaged equipment and temporary sewer lines. ERCPSD has applied for further aid and hopes to eventually get more than $5 million in federal assistance, according to Director Larry Brazzell, but the process is long, and could take up to five years. Even though the system’s pump station can handle 16 million gallons a day, when the flood hit, the main pump station was submerged under 30 feet of water, said Brazzell. However, he saw a

For the past two years, South Carolina has been in recovery mode. Long-term recovery for families, business and municipalities, following the historic rain event and flood of October 2015, is seen in almost every county. Recently, during National Community Development Week, Richland County celebrated the first home in its flood recovery program given to a flood survivor. The event marked a major milestone in the County’s recovery program and also presented a second chance at recovery for those still living in unsafe and conditions. According to the county, a second home was released to a waiting flood survivor, less than a week from when the County celebrated its first ribbon cutting. County Community Development Director, Valeria Jackson, said it took about five months to release the first new home and all homes will be given by the year 2020. She encourages those waiting for their “recovery” moment to continue to be patient. Richland County is able to provide the mobile homes through

It’s that time again. Spring is in full swing, and so are preparations for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. The National Weather Service is preparing to recognize National Hurricane Preparedness Week in early May, and will partner with the state’s Emergency Management Division to sponsor South Carolina Hurricane Preparedness week beginning May 27. But, as the state encourages citizen preparedness, how can individuals gauge the state’s success in responding to these disasters? One metric is the National Health Security Preparedness Index (NHSPI), an annual report issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation . Glen Mays , a professor of health policy at the University of Kentucky, is one of the lead researchers for the NHSPI. “The index overall . . . pools data from a pretty wide range of sources to be able to characterize pretty broadly the level of health protections that are in state for the nation and for each state—specifically geared to be prepared for disasters, disease

Both have historic homes, waterfront parks and battery walls, as well as reputations for hospitality. Charleston was named the best southern city this year by Southern Living Magazine. Last year, Beaufort was awarded best small town. But that’s not all these two Lowcountry communities have in common. “We’re sort of like brothers,” said Beaufort Mayor Keyserling. He’s referring to his life-long, family friendship with Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg. Their cities may be 70 miles apart, but the two catch up by phone at least once or twice a week. “We share the joys and challenges of being mayor,” said Tecklenburg. “We also share information in particular about flooding and ways to deal with that challenge.” Tecklenburg made flooding and the threat of sea level rise Charleston’s top priority as part of his state of the city address this year. A native of Charleston, he was elected mayor in November of 2017. He previously served as the city’s director of economic development. Mayor

For some, the so-called “thousand-year rain” and the floods that followed it in October 2015 may seem an event long past, but many are still recovering from the storm’s devastation. For some businesses in Richland County, the after effects of the floods continue to pose particular difficulties. Take the Four Paws Animal Clinic , which was forced to operate out of a temporary location for more than two years after the flood, when the business' original building bordering Gills Creek was ruined. It was only recently that Four Paws was finally able to move to a new location on Forest Acres. “[We] love the new building,” said Dr. Nori Warren, a veterinarian at Four Paws. “Love it, love it, love it. It’s been a long time in the coming.” Warren said the clinic got no help from FEMA, but its flood insurance ultimately did come through, enabling clinic to rebuild in a new location. Even more challenging, however, was replacing the countless pieces of underinsured equipment that were lost.

There’s a stop sign for campers pulling into Hunting Island State Park. But visitors have likely slowed down long before. The island has been closed for nearly two years following Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. To the right of the entrance, campers once enjoyed breath taking beachside views. Now storm damage takes their breath away. “I wasn’t even sure there would be a spot,” said Eileen Benjamin as she wandered on to the beach. “When you drive in you see all the down trees and you think if it still looks like this how are we going to be camping?” It’s the first time she’s been back since 2015. Park manager J.W. Weatherford says two consecutive years of storms wiped out nearly half of the campground’s 200 sites, mostly along the beach. Hurricane Matthew’s strong winds in 2016 took out trees and flattened the dunes. Then, just as the park tried to reopen a year later, Hurricane Irma’s storm surge flooded electrical boxes and swallowed the beach. “It took maybe 15 to 20 feet,” said

For more than a year, the Williamsburg Regional Hospital has been serving patients from a temporary facility located right next to their old building. The hospital was damaged beyond repair during the thousand-year floods. Eventually, the hospital determined that they had to move out of the old building. With a combination of insurance coverage and FEMA funding, they began their efforts to open first a temporary ER in the spring of 2016 , followed by the temporary hospital later that year . South Carolina Public Radio's Laura Hunsberger talks with hospital officials and staff about the future of the county's hospital system. More on this story... "It all happened that one night," says Engineering Director Sean Cottrell. In the deluge of rain, water overwhelmed the flat roof of the building and began to flow down through the hospital's walls. "I got here at 2:45. And at the front, at the red light out there, my car was underwater. I made it back here and when I walked in our dietary on

On a sunny patch of open space along the Congaree River in Columbia, the eighth annual River Rocks Festival brought hundreds of residents out last weekend to enjoy the spring weather and learn about the conservation efforts of the region’s Congaree Riverkeeper and their partners. In between acts, a man took the stage to pump up the crowd. “So, who here is here to listen to some awesome music?” he shouted, to applause. He continued the survey, eliciting more cheers for those in attendance to drink craft beer, before asking, “Who’s here to celebrate clean water and healthy rivers?” More applause. “That one should always be the loudest,” he said. This was riverkeeper Bill Stangler , who spearheads the annual event with his small staff and a group of dedicated volunteers. He said that while many people come out to enjoy the nice weather and live music acts, the community is also in tune with the larger purpose of the event: to raise awareness and financial support for one of the area’s

How do you raise a large, historic home? Better yet, how do you put it back down? Should such an old home be raised at all? All are tough questions in a city that until recently had never lifted one before. “There’s a lot of head scratching going on,” said long-time contractor Gary Walters. He’s been working on a massive home at 42 Rutledge Avenue in Charleston, S.C. since last fall. That’s when its owner, Jack Margolies, finally got approval from the city’s Board of Architectural Review to raise the 1859 structure. “We bought it right after Hurricane Hugo,” said Margolies. “The third floor was blown off. The bottom floor was flooded.” He and his wife Frieda immediately began to rebuild. The house had been in Mayor John Tecklenburg’s family for 100 years. The Margolies followed the city’s strict guidelines for maintaining the home’s historic character and appeal. They raised their own children there until the fall of 2016 when another disaster struck. The house caught fire destroying

For the past few years, we've brought you a lot of stories about recovery from the 2015 floods and Hurricane Matthew. Many people across the state might be wondering "isn't this recovery taking a long time?" As JR Sanderson, Program Director for the South Carolina Disaster Recovery Office , explains, the answer is yes—and no. "If you're a citizen, and you're in Andrews, South Carolina, or you're in Nichols, South Carolina, you look at us, and you'll say, 'wow, you guys move very, very slow.' And that's a fair assessment. It's hard to debate that proposition," Sanderson said. "Having said that, if you look at us and you compare us to any other jurisdiction in America that has operated under Disaster Recovery Funds, we are lightyears, I mean truly lightyears ahead." The South Carolina Disaster Recovery Office, or SCDRO, is one of the major players in the state's ongoing recovery. It's a temporary agency created specifically to restore safe housing to the most vulnerable residents whose

Between the autumns of 2015 and 2017, 47 of South Carolina’s state parks experienced temporary closures due to damages sustained during severe weather events, including the Floods of 2015, Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Irma and the Pinnacle Mountain Wildfire at Table Rock State Park . February marked an important milestone: for the first time since the fall of 2015, every affected park was reopened. According to Phil Gaines, Director of the S.C. State Parks Service , the frequency and geographic distribution of severe weather events that have affected the parks over the past three years is remarkable. “It’s very unusual for the entire state to be affected by a disaster. It’s usually, you know, an ice storm in the upstate, or flooding somewhere, or the coastal events during hurricane season. It’s very rare that you have these catastrophic events that impact you statewide,” he said. For coastal and island parks, recovery has been especially drawn out because of repeat disasters separated

According to an official proclamation from Governor Henry McMaster, this week is Severe Weather and Flood Safety Awareness Week in South Carolina. It’s an occasion intended to encourage South Carolinians to prepare for potential severe weather scenarios. In a press conference at the SC Emergency Management Division on Tuesday, South Carolina Deputy Adjutant General R. Van McCarty emphasized that while the South Carolina National Guard and SCEMD are ready to respond in a crisis, it’s up to each person to be prepared. “Have a to-go kit. Have basic things that you may need—first aid kit, some water, minor medical supplies that are available in your home that could help you get through the immediate effects of an event.” McCarty also encouraged familiarity with local authorities and nonprofits. “Surely the resources that the state has, and the federal level have, will be there for you. But in most cases, it is the local governments that are your initial response. They’re the ones that

Mark Wilbert has been the man the city of Charleston has turned to in case of emergencies. He helped people prepare for Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. He was there after 9 parishioners at Mother Emanuel were killed. Last August, he planned for a crowd of thousands in town for the solar eclipse. Now the former city Emergency Management Director has a new job. He's Charleston's first ever Chief Resilience officer. "We're the first city in South Carolina to actually have this position," said Wilbert from his office at the Gaillard Center downtown. So what is a resilience chief? The group, “100 Resilient Cities”, created by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2013 describes it as a top-level advisor who reports directly to the mayor, establishing a resilience vision to maximize innovation and minimize the impact of unforeseen events. Charleston's mayor announced the position in January during his state of the city address, calling flooding and the threat of sea level rise top priorities. Wilbert

Back in January, a diverse group of Midlands community members congregated at the United Way of the Midlands . Among the 20 or so assembled guests were lawyers, businesspeople, nonprofit staffers, and a vet. What they held in common was their shared action after a terrible natural disaster 12 years ago, when Hurricane Katrina battered the gulf coast. Hurricane Katrina wasn’t a specifically South Carolinian tragedy, but when the storm struck the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi as a destructive category 3 hurricane, Columbia, South Carolina hosted part of what became known as the Katrina Diaspora—the many thousands of people who evacuated to other parts of the U.S. Then-mayor Bob Coble and SC Congressman James Clyburn felt strongly that Columbia should be among the cities that stepped up to the plate, and they enlisted community leader Sam Tenenbaum to organize the effort. “I had no idea that I’d get the call from the mayor saying that he and the congressmen decided that I was in

In September 2015, many farmers in South Carolina were looking forward to a promising harvest. The drought that began in 2014 had subsided in time for at least one crop to flourish remarkably well: by the time October rolled in, full, glistening fields of white cotton spread through rural South Carolina, just shy of ready for harvest. It seemed that farmers would see a rich reward for the stress of the long, dry months that preceded. Then the rain came. From the Midlands to the Lowcountry, record-breaking rainfall accounted for the deaths of 19 South Carolinians during the weekend of Oct. 3 and 4. The flood also devastated many S.C. farms with crops on the precipice of harvest. More than two years later, farmers are still recovering. 2017: A Year of Mixed Redemption Jeremy Cannon, a farmer in Turbeville, a small, agricultural town in Sumter County, was just a week from harvesting his cotton and soybeans when the flood overwhelmed his crops. “It really looked like we would have on of

Winter is an especially difficult time of year for unhoused South Carolinians. As temperatures dip below freezing throughout the season, the threat of hypothermia is ever-present. That’s why several nonprofits in the Midlands have forged together each winter since 2014 to sponsor Columbia’s Inclement Weather Center (IWC), open from November 1 to March 31 on nights when the temperature is 40 degrees or below. The City of Columbia contracts with The United Way to run the center, in partnership with Salvation Army and Transitions , a homeless shelter for adults in the Columbia area. “We serve about a hundred or so unduplicated folks per year,” said Jennifer Moore, Senior Director of the Financial Stability Council for the United Way of the Midlands, “but that ends up being over about 650 nights of shelter when you multiply by folks who come multiple times.” On nights when the National Weather Service forecasts temperatures at or below 40 degrees, IWC makes a shuttle available downtown to

Last month, the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season finally came to a close. From June 1 to Nov. 30, South Carolinians were encouraged by SCEMD and other state agencies to be on high alert, especially after the severe storm impacts the state received during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Now that hurricane season has wrapped up, we called on John Qualiariello, a Columbia-based meteorologist for the National Weather Service, to reflect. “2017 turned out to be a very active season. We had 16 named storms. 10 of those were hurricanes, and 6 of them actually turned out to be major hurricanes, which are category 3 or higher,” Qualiariello said. According to Qualiariello, 2017 is the second season in a row to have above normal tropical hurricane activity, both in terms of the total number of named storms and the number of major hurricanes that occurred. 2016 represented fairly similar activity with 15 named storms and 7 hurricanes, including 4 major hurricanes. The biggest weather-related threat to

Since President Trump announced the U.S. would exit the Paris Climate Agreement back in June, redoubled support for the agreement has come from the local level, with mayors from around the nation pledging their cities' support for the Agreement. Here in South Carolina, where nearly 55 percent of voters opted for Trump in 2016, four prominent mayors of diverse political leanings pledged to fulfill the terms of the Paris Agreement as part of the Climate Mayors Caucus, which is composed of some 380-plus American mayors . The mayors of Charleston, Greenville, Columbia and Anderson compose their ranks. Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia has in many ways led the charge on climate initiatives, both in South Carolina and nationally, as the Vice-President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "We've had a tagline as we’ve marketed ourselves over the past few years of being famously hot, and the reality is we are famously hot," said Benjamin, with a laugh. Heat isn’t the only climate-related issue

Weather is constantly monitored in South Carolina by meteorologists for TV stations and the National Weather Service. But to keep people informed of—and protected from—threatening weather, Richland County has a unique advantage as the only county in the state, and perhaps one of few in the nation, to have its own meteorologist. Ken Aucoin is both the county’s meteorologist and an emergency manager, thus making the county uniquely positioned to respond quickly to bad weather. Watching the Winds “I’m here before the sun comes up,” Aucoin says, “so that when the emergency managers all arrive in the mornings, the forecast is already there.” After Aucoin shares Richland County’s daily forecast, he collaborates with emergency managers to assess upcoming threats that might need to be specially addressed. To help identify threats, Aucoin also developed a series of weather stations across the county that gathers more detailed information to help pinpoint problems such as high winds. This type

Early this month, South Carolina reached the 2-year anniversary of the devastating October 2015 rain event, offering a natural opportunity to pause and observe the many tragedies that the widespread flooding wrought, and the many triumphs of recovery that have followed. The Midlands Flood Recovery Group , for its part, celebrated a significant milestone in its flood recovery narrative this month: the 200 th home repaired by the group and the gift of a restored home for one resilient flood survivor. The Midlands Flood Recovery Group (MFRG) is a cluster of organizations that focuses their efforts on recovery for victims in Richland and Lexington counties. Organized by the United Way, the 60 partner organizations have supported vulnerable flood survivors through many aspects of recovery, including repairing severely damaged homes like this one in Columbia. The group hosted an event to celebrate the milestone in backyard of their 200 th aid recipient, Lou Alice James. Rachel Pettit,