Some Cherry Grove residents want marsh berm to prevent flooding

Cherry Grove residents along Duffy Road are frustrated with the king tides that have flooded their neighborhood several times this fall and are threatening to petition the City of North Myrtle Beach with demands that protections be put in place to protect their property.

The small group of residents who gathered during the astronomically high tide Wednesday morning to address the issue say the street flooding has poured into some homes that were not constructed on stilts, ruined property underneath raised houses, flooded lower level storage rooms and destroyed landscaping.

The neighborhood is within a block of the marsh where the water rises along with the ocean’s high tides and spills onto the street. When the king tides cover the stormwater drains along the beach, the water cannot drain and quickly fills the streets, a North Myrtle Beach official said.

Speeding trucks Wednesday ignored posted signs warning that the road was closed to flooding, sending waves into houses on slab foundations, and over a window air conditioning unit to spill water inside one home.

“A lot of people are totally disappointed in the city for not doing anything in relation to the flooding,” said Ray DeBruhl, who invited neighbors to his home to discuss the issue.

This area is several miles south of the dredging project, so DeBruhl and several other residents proposed that a berm be constructed along the marsh to block rising water during high tides.

“How can they have no water by the ocean and we have it over here?” DeBruhl asked. “The only solution has to be a berm similar to the ocean (dunes).”

The house on 25th Avenue belonging to Steve Morgan and his wife sits atop stilts, so flooding has been limited to the lower level storage rooms, where he said a foot of water surrounded a washer and dryer and other property was ruined.

FEMA won’t pay for the damage because it’s not their primary residence, and Morgan says the constant flooding is damaging the value of his and the neighbors’ property.

“We’re just throwing money away -- every time we fix something, (the water) comes back up again,” Morgan said. “If the feds won’t dredge, somebody needs to send us a check every year to fix our property,” Morgan said.

“It’s not killing the marsh, but solving a problem for people in the neighborhood. We understand there is no controlling Mother Nature, but it’s logical to protect from the backside -- the backside needs to be protected as much as the (ocean) side,” Morgan said.

The marshes are under the jurisdiction of the state and federal government and even if a permit was granted to allow construction of a berm, the project would be extremely costly and the bill passed on to the homeowners, said Pat Dowling, spokesman for the city of North Myrtle Beach.

If the city had control over the marshes, Dowling said a berm is not the solution and would likely exacerbate the problem.

Homes near the marsh are prone to flooding because they are located at, or below sea level, which is why houses are now required to be constructed on stilts, Dowling said.

“It’s not the ideal situation and everyone understands that, but they did purchase property in very low-lying areas, and the flooding that occurs is not new, it’s been going on for decades,” Dowling said.

The city issued high tide warnings last week and advised residents in low-lying areas to remove valuables near the street and underneath homes.

However, Dowling agrees with the residents that drivers racing through flooded streets is a problem that contributed to flooding in low-lying homes.

“It’s not a no-wake zone, but it’s a courtesy. Creating a wake can exacerbate the flooding problem for homeowners. They shouldn’t be driving through flooded streets anyway -- that’s been our mantra since the rains of September,” Dowling said.

“Everybody is frustrated, but high tides are maybe a week each month in August through November, and then some in March for a couple of days,” Dowling said.

This week’s king tide will continue until Friday and is the second extraordinarily high tide to hit the Grand Strand in October. Combined with record rainfall and the passing of Hurricane Joaquin offshore earlier this month, the Atlantic Ocean crashed through several dunes causing street flooding, while flooding farther onshore was caused when the surf covered stormwater drains along the beach.

Audrey Hudson can be contacted at 843-444-1765.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Some Cherry Grove residents want marsh berm to prevent flooding."