Did your property flood the past four years? This new plan is looking for your feedback
Flood waters from Hurricane Florence receded over a year ago, but Horry County is still struggling with how to move past the record-breaking natural disaster.
In the months following the storm, the county government commissioned a Flood Resiliency Plan to craft policy recommendations and highlight future projects to help residents.
Private citizens began forming groups like Horry County Rising to connect flood victims and advocate for change.
Now scientists, government officials and advocates want to hear from the public to decide what can be done to help folks who have suffered through repeated floods.
The Horry County Flood Resiliency Plan began in October 2018 to identify ways Horry County could improve its response to flooding. The county is now looking for public input on how previous floods impacted residents and what changes could be made.
“Our goal is going to be to try to address the resilience issues in a way, I hope, the county will find fiscally effective and environmentally responsible,” said Scott Shuford with CASE Consultants International.
Shuford has worked for 35 years in urban planning serving in cities across North Carolina and Florida.
He said the team of experts Horry County assembled is top-notch and will be able to provide an array of expertise. He will be joined by Tom Jost of Sherwood Design Engineers, Matthijs Bouw from One Architecture, Marjorie McGuirk from CASE and Rob Young from Western Carolina University.
Funding for the plan was provided through a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for $210,000 with the county, with a planned $70,000 local match. But county Spokesperson Kelly Moore said the local contribution was increased to $190,000 due to the consultant’s contract costing more than what was budgeted.
The team is already doing background research on Horry County, Shuford said. But talking to people affected by flooding is what gets him excited about this project.
“We may know a lot about the hydrologic functions of rivers and coastal waters, we may know a lot about different plans, but the real experts are the people who experience the flooding themselves,” Shuford said.
While most of the focus will be on the flood that followed Hurricane Florence, Shuford said the team also wants to hear about floods from Hurricanes Matthew or Joaquin.
There will be three public comment sections each taking place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The first will be held at Socastee High School on Oct. 22, then at North Strand Recreation Center on Oct. 23, and the final one will be at the James R. Frazier Community Center on Oct. 24.
If you cannot attend the meetings, Shuford said Horry County will send out a digital survey.
The completed plan will include policy recommendations, community building guidance and specific projects Horry County can complete to improve flood mitigation.
The hope is to have the plan completed ahead of spring next year.
A local flood victims’ advocacy group, Horry County Rising, is also looking for public input through a survey that asks Horry County residents to disclose the burden recent floods have placed on their families and how much of their flood recovery efforts were paid out-of-pocket.
April O’Leary, leader of Horry County Rising, said a coalition of groups have scheduled meetings with federal lawmakers to present the data next month.
Horry County Rising is joined by two other organizations. Higher Ground is a national network of flood victims that aims to help communities organize. The Climate Cost Project looks at economic data coupled with personal stories to determine the financial and person impacts flooding can have on American communities.
The survey can be found on The Climate Cost Project’s website, and the deadline to reply is Oct. 31. Data from the survey will be made public.
“The real human impacts of persistent flooding aren’t captured in high-level statistics of government spending and insurance payouts,” CEO of the Climate Cost Project Sieren Ernst said. “No one is really looking at the impact on the lives and finances of individuals and families, and we want to change that.”
