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Ongoing coverage of South Carolina's recovery from the flooding of 2015.What had been Lindsay Langdale's Columbia home October 3, 2015 was a flooded ruin the next day.This coverage is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In October of 2015, South Carolina received rainfall in unprecedented amounts over just a few days time. By the time the rain began to slacken, the National Weather Service reported that the event had dumped more than two feet of water on the state. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the subsequent flooding was the worst in 75 years.

Lexington County Residents Look For Home Buyouts to End Their History of Flooding

Janey Heath standing in her backyard
Thelisha Eaddy
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SC Public Radio

In Lexington County, Kinley Creek starts north of Highway 60 and ends in the Saluda River. The path of the creek runs behind several houses in the Challedon community. Long-time residents say during heavy rains, rushing waters enter their homes and erode their yards. These residents say they’ve dealt with flooding since the late 1990s and are ready for a permanent solution. ThelishaEaddy reports on how the county could use disaster recovery funds from the historic flood of October of 2015, to help these residents solve their flooding issues for good.

When I opened my car door, the water rushed in. This was in April of 1998...

Janet Heath lived at 1220 Baffin Bay Drive for 17 years. She said less than a month after she moved into her home, it flooded during a heavy rain.

"I walked down my steps. When I got to my second step, it [water] was to my ankles. The further I walked

down, it was up to my knees. When I opened my car door, the water rushed in. This was in April of 1998. I moved there March of 1998." 

A History of Flooding

The devastation caused by the flooding of Kinley Creek and two of its tributaries, K-1 and K-2 is well documented. Studies of the issue were conducted in 1983, 1987 and 1995. In January of 2013, Lexington County requested the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) Charleston District to conducta study of the long term issues related to the flooding of the creek, K-1 and K-2. The cost of the study totaled $322,000 and was shared equally between Lexington County and Charleston District, each responsible for $166,000.

The results of this study were released in August 2015, two months and two days before the October 2015 flood. The executive summary of the report states no one alternative could address the flooding issues.

Due to the geographic variability and build out of the project area, no single alternative proved cost effective to both reduce flooding and remove structures out of the floodplain. It is recommended that implementation of the initial following measures will address the flooding within the project area: • Focus on protecting structures in 10-yr floodplain • Acquire structures that have history of repetitive loses • Modify channel adjacent to Broken Hill Rd. & downstream of Piney Grove Rd. • Construct pond offline of K-1 These initial steps would lower surface water elevations within portions of the floodplain and remove structures out of the floodplain. These measures also have the advantage of possessing a very positive cost to benefit ratio, ensuring a return on the capital invested.

Lexington County was awarded $16.3 million dollars in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The county’s CDBG-DR Program Overview is available online at http://www.lex-co.sc.gov.

"Home buy-outs will be our major emphasis, because we've found that that's what our community is really looking for," said Charles Garren, Lexington County Director of Community Development.

Page 20 of the overview details the current recommendation on how the county's disaster recovery funds should be used. Targeted home buy-outs total $6 million dollars, or 36.7% of the awarded funds from HUD.Click here to read the entire CDBG-DR Program Overview Presentation by Lexington County.

According to the overview, homeowners would be offered the pre-storm value of their houses. The amount of any previous funds homeowners may have received to do repairs to the house would be deducted from the offer. Homeowners would be offered moving and purchase assistance. The proposed buy-out program will be voluntary.

Lexington County flood survivors
Credit Thelisha Eaddy / SC Public Radio
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SC Public Radio
Lexington County residents during flood recovery meeting

During a recent flood recovery meeting, county officials distributed surveys to learn what unmet needs flood survivors in the county were still dealing with.

"As far as surveys, I'll say 100% of surveys we've received have come from people who have said yes, we want to talk to you about a buy-out."

Unmet Needs Survey
Credit Thelisha Eaddy / SC Public Radio
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SC Public Radio
Unmet Needs Survey

Garren said hearing from people at recent stakeholder meetings and community meetings has further convinced him that buy-outs will be the most impactful way to use the county's CDBG-DR funds.

"There are a lot of people who have been through this kind of thing a lot of times, in terms of flooding, and they are looking for a way out."

Almost one year after the flood, Janet Heath still hasn't moved back to 1220 Baffin Bay Road and is looking for the buy-out of her home to be her way out.

Heath says a lot of her backyard has been washed away from frequent flooding.

"It starts from back there and it hits a curve of some type and comes straight through this area and just washes straight across."

Heath shares she is not one hundred percent sure about anything, but feels there is a high probability she would be offered a buy-out. "We are in the waterway," she stressed.

Residents Share Their Stories

Heath is not alone. The map below shows the locations of four homes in two of Lexington County's hardest-hit flood areas, Challedon and Whitehall. The homeowners of these properties share what life is like living along the K-1 and K-2 tributaries of Kinley Creek.

Map of four houses affected by Kinley Creek flooding.
Credit Google Maps
The locations of four houses in the Challedon and Whitehall communities in Lexington County are situation near tributaries of Kinley Creek.
Janet Heath
Credit Thelisha Eaddy / SC Public Radio
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SC Public Radio
(1) Challedon resident Janet Heath shares what life is like living near a tributary of Kinley Creek.

web_audio_4_heath.mp3

Credit Thelisha Eaddy / SC Public Radio
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SC Public Radio
(2) Challedon residents Francis Scarpis and Patricia O'Neill share what life is like living near a tributary of Kinley Creek.

web_audio_3_oneill_scarpis.mp3

Janalee Smith
Credit Thelisha Eaddy / SC Public Radio
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SC Public Radio
(3) Whitehall resident Janalee Smith shares what life is like living along a tributary of Kinley Creek.

web_audio_2_smith.mp3

Glaydis Moore
Credit Thelisha Eaddy / SC Public Radio
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SC Public Radio
(4) Whitehall resident Glaydis Moore shares what life is like living near a tributary of Kinley Creek.

web_audio_5_moore.mp3

Not a Silver Bullet

According to Garren, right now, the county would be able to offer between 50 to 60 home buy-outs. But the director cautions, the possible buy-outs will not be a silver bullet for everyone.

"There are a lot of factors to consider, [including] previous funding that they [ the homeowner] may have received from another organization or agency." Garren said the amounts of previous funding granted to homeowners to do repairs on the house would be deducted from the what the county would offer in the buy-out. Other factors include "whether there's a mortgage on the home. The homeowner will be responsible for making sure there is a clear title. So, what we offer them, a large portion of that may be going towards satisfying that mortgage."

the county has created a rating system to help identify which houses would qualify for buy-outs

Garren said the county has created a rating system to help identify which houses would qualify for buy-outs.

"Every house that applies, we'll apply the same grading system to them." Two factors the system will account for are "damage that resulted from the October flood and a second factor is previous damage from previous flooding situations," he added.

The county's action plan is due to HUD on the 20th of September and then "HUD has 60 days that they can take to review and approve that plan." Garren anticipates CDBG-DR funds will be available by the end of November.

"There will be an approval process that they will have to go through." Once the plan has been approved, the money will then become available to the county." Before then, Garren said the county will be accepting applications and conducting intakes. The community director said his goal is to be able to make a real positive impact on somebody by Christmas.

Links and Resources

Lexington County Community Development Block Grant- Disaster Recovery Timeline

Lexington County CDBG-DR Program Overview Presentation