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Home , Hurricane Joaquin

Coastal Heritage VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4 FALL 2016

Communities Under Water

Lessons Learned from Extreme FloodsFall 2016 • 1 3 COMMUNITIES UNDER WATER: LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXTREME FLOODS Inundations in 2015 and 2016 drove home the message: Building coastal resilience is critical and requires changes. Coastal Science Serving 12 Coastal Heritage is a quarterly publication FLOOD INSURANCE of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, a science- Because “we all live in a flood plain.” based state agency supporting research, education, and outreach to conserve coastal resources and enhance economic opportunity 13 for the people of South Carolina. Comments regarding this or future issues of Coastal Heritage are welcomed at “Powerful is an understatement.” [email protected]. Subscriptions are free upon request by contacting: 14 S.C. Sea Grant Consortium 287 Meeting Street NEWS AND NOTES Charleston, S.C. 29401 • Consortium receives $1.33 million for Sea Grant activities phone: (843) 953-2078 • Consortium teaches climate change concepts to educators [email protected] • Flood information gap prompts water monitoring data portal Executive Director M. Richard DeVoe 16 Director of Communications EBBS AND FLOWS Susan Ferris Hill • American Meteorological Society Meeting Editor • Coastal GeoTools Joey Holleman • Aquatic Sciences Meeting Art Director Pam Hesse Pam Hesse Graphic Design  Board of Directors The Consortium’s Board of Directors is composed of the chief executive officers of its member institutions:

Col. Alvin A. Taylor, Chair Director, S.C. Department of Natural Resources Dr. James P. Clements President, Clemson University Dr. David A. DeCenzo President, Coastal Carolina University Glenn F. McConnell President, College of Charleston Dr. David J. Cole President, Medical University of South Carolina ON THE COVER: James E. Clark Milton Green compares the October 2015 and October 2016 flood heights in his President, S.C. State University yard in North Charleston’s Pepperhill subdivision. The October 2015 flooding Lt. General John W. Rosa was higher, but still did major damage to his house. President, The Citadel PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM Dr. Harris Pastides COPYRIGHT © 2016 by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. All rights reserved. President, University of South Carolina

2 • Coastal Heritage RISING CONCERN. The October 2015 flood inundated many coastal communities, including Aiken Street on the Charleston peninsula, and taught many lessons. PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM Communities Under Water Lessons Learned from Extreme Floods by Joey Holleman

rom narrow neighborhood ditches ordinary meteorological and hydro­ centuries. The laws of probability don’t Fto major rivers, nearly every logical events are growing more work that way. Instead, the term refers waterway in wide swaths of South common. The amount of precipitation to a 0.2 percent chance of one of those Carolina swelled to extreme levels in the most powerful storms in the events occurring during any year. during and after a record-breaking Southeast increased by 27 percent While South Carolina didn’t get rainfall in early October 2015. “It’s from 1958 through 2012, according to 500-year floods in back-to-back years never flooded like that around here” a report from the National Science in exactly the same location, Matthew seemed like the new state motto. The and Technology Council. The phe- pushed the Little Pee Dee River to tendency might have been to view the nomena, coined “rain bombs,” make 500-year levels at Galivants Ferry in resulting flood and its $2 billion in scientific sense: Global temperatures 2016, which is about 50 miles from damages as a once-in-a-lifetime have been on the rise, and warmer air where the Black River hit 500-year disaster and not let it remarkably holds more than cooler air. levels in Kingstree in 2015. change the way we work, live, play, Those skeptical of statistics and studies Both of those points stress the and plan. need only pay attention to news need for all of us to learn from our Then Hurricane Matthew reports. Before the end of October flooding experiences. Using that churned up the coast in October 2016, 2015, the South Carolina flood had knowledge to prepare people, homes, dumping slightly less rainfall but faded in national memory behind two and infrastructure to better handle the enough to cause another major flood- deadly floods a week apart in Texas. next major flood builds community ing event in coastal South Carolina. Additional record-breaking deluges hit resilience. The new motto this time could have Arkansas, West Virginia, Maryland, “It amazes me that people haven’t been: “Not again!” In the extreme and Louisiana before Matthew gave thought more about resilience,” says northeast corner of the state, Matthew South Carolina another thorough Gerald Galloway, a University of flooding was even worse than in drenching. Maryland engineering professor whose October 2015, thus driving home And secondly, 500-year floods, a research focuses on flood resilience and two points. misunderstood term based on statistics, mitigation. Galloway made that com- First, these types of extra­- don’t happen just once every five ment at a February 2016 symposium

Fall 2016 • 3 Carolina. The first round of rain had little to do with Joaquin, but moisture in the outer bands of the hurricane likely fed into later rounds, says Ron Morales, warning coordination meteo- rologist with the (NWS) in Charleston. NWS forecast models recognized the flood potential early, warning on October 1 that Charleston should expect more than 10 inches of rain over the next four days. “Everyone was worried about Joaquin,” Morales says. “We were trying to get people to stop looking at Joaquin and look at this rain forecast.” Heavy rain started in Charleston on the afternoon of October 1. Then it stopped late on October 2. Hope Mizzell, state climatologist with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), heard from skeptics when the first blast of rain ended. She begged them not to take the forecast lightly. “With each forecast, it became more clear somewhere was going to get it,” Mizzell says. “You didn’t know precisely where the maximum amount FIREHOSE EFFECT. Hurricane Joaquin remained off the South Carolina coast in October 2015, but it set up in just the right spot to funnel moisture from a land-based would fall, but you knew there was a low pressure system, which drenched South Carolina with over two feet of rain in some high likelihood it would happen some- areas. where. After it slowed down, I told PHOTO/NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION people who were contacting me, ‘Do not even think this is over!’ ” organized by the Charleston Resilience OCTOBER 2015: ATMOSPHERIC It wasn’t. The atmospheric Network (CRN), a relatively new FLOOD RECIPE fire hose opened full throttle over group of public and private stakehold- Charleston during late afternoon ers, including the S.C. Sea Grant South Carolina was bone dry in October 3, pushing into the central Consortium. The CRN was formed early August 2015, with crops dying in part of the state and the northern to help communities prepare for and fields and many waterways running coast overnight. By the time skies deal with events such as the October at 10 percent of their normal flow. cleared on October 5, one-third of 2015 floods. Farmers and gardeners welcomed a the area’s average annual precipitation According to the Federal couple of quenching rains in August had been crammed into four days in Emergency Management Agency and September, but the state’s streams coastal and inland communities from (FEMA), flooding accounts for 85 still were very low. Then in early Charleston north to Myrtle Beach. percent of all disaster declarations in October, while most people were One site in Mount Pleasant registered the United States. Flooding caused paying attention to strengthening 26.88 inches. Four-day totals included $260 billion in damages from 1980 Hurricane Joaquin in the Atlantic, 24.75 inches in Williamsburg County, through 2013. Improved community a separate low-pressure system stalled 23.74 inches in Horry County, and resilience won’t stop flooding, but it over southern Georgia. 22.02 inches in Berkeley County. could reduce the impact. The land-based low plopped down Flood records were set on the “Resilience is where it’s at,” in an ideal location for its counter- Black River at Kingstree, Black Creek Galloway says. “What are we doing to clockwise rotation to pull moist air up near Quinby in Florence County, make us better the next time around? from the tropics. When that saturated and on Gills Creek, Smith Branch, We can’t afford $6 billion in flood air lifted over the low’s stalled frontal and Pen Branch in Columbia. It’s losses in this country every year.” boundary, rain poured down on South impossible to accurately determine

4 • Coastal Heritage the peak at Gills Creek. The deluge Kiawah Island, was shut down for days. impacted by the rising waters now say washed away the gauge. Further inland, portions of I-95 also they fanatically check weather fore- The force of flowing water buckled had to be closed. casts. Mizzell hopes that is another roads and tested the strength of dams. The rising water didn’t play favor- lesson learned from October 2015: Pay The official tallies from a state infra- ites, enveloping high-end mansions attention to forecasts and don’t assume structure damage report: 541 roads and and mobile home parks. State officials you are safe. 221 bridges closed; 52 state-regulated say 33,100 homes had more than a foot “It had been so long since we had dams and another 191 smaller dams of water in them at some point during experienced a flood,” Mizzell says. “You damaged. Most of the dams simply the resultant flooding, which contin- knew everybody’s response would be, overtopped and suffered erosion, but ued for two weeks as water moved ‘It won’t be a problem in my neighbor- several in the Gills Creek watershed downstream. Thousands of people had hood.’ People who have lived in their failed, cascading massive pulses of to be plucked from homes by rescuers home 20 years and it’s never flooded water through suburban Columbia in boats. Officially, 19 deaths were think they’re not in a flood zone. neighborhoods that never had flooded linked to the 2015 flood, with three of Twenty years is a very small climato- before. those in coastal counties. The majority logical footprint. Next time, people In the lowcountry, high water of deaths occurred when people drove will recognize that we are vulnerable.” forced the closure of sections of U.S. 17 into flooded roadways. The overriding When the “next time” came just a both north and south of Charleston. lesson: Don’t drive into water—turn year later, people did pay attention. Main Road, the major connection around, don’t drown. State officials estimated 350,000 fled from U.S. 17 to Johns Island and Many people whose homes were the coast after Governor

MAP PREPARED BY A. SASSARD USING DATA CREATED BY METSTATE, INC. FOR THE S.C. STATE CLIMATE OFFICE

Fall 2016 • 5 ordered an evacuation ahead of neighborhood as quickly as possible. downstream from Pepperhill. Hurricane Matthew. Even with power- Good thing he did. “When I came Of course, the parkway’s road ful winds and storm surge, Hurricane back the next day, the water was so surface is far from the only new con- Matthew caused five deaths compared deep I had to reach down into the struction in the area. Businesses have to 19 during the 2015 flooding. water to put the key into the front- popped up along the parkway, and door lock,” he says. hundreds of homes have been built to FLOOD HITS ON A Green moved into the house in the west, or upstream, of Pepperhill PERSONAL LEVEL 1989, and he says it never had flooded in the past 20 years. Regardless of the before. But water from neighboring source, something is causing ditches On the night of October 3, 2015, wetlands had been slowly creeping around Pepperhill to back up with Milton Green, like many in South higher in his yard after each heavy water quicker than they did several Carolina, was entranced as the rain for about a decade. He speculates years ago, even during summer thun- Clemson-Notre Dame football game the change is related to construction derstorms. North Charleston officials came down to a final drive. He also during that period of the nearby want a more comprehensive study of was aware of dire rainfall predictions. Palmetto Commerce Parkway. the wetlands, ditches, and creeks that Throughout the game, he got up from Hydrology studies required for the flow beside Pepperhill and the nearby his recliner during commercial breaks parkway indicated the road should Northwoods Estates subdivisions. They to check on water rising slowly across create little additional runoff into the have applied for a FEMA mitigation his backyard in North Charleston’s wetlands behind Pepperhill. The study grant to pay for the study. Pepperhill subdivision. The frantic estimated the parkway would add 36.2 Pepperhill homeowners were last few minutes of the game stole his acres of impervious surface—or hard more than a little frustrated that attention away from his flood checks. surface that doesn’t soak up rainfall— they flooded again during Hurricane When the Clemson Tigers finally to the 4,400-acre drainage area. The Matthew before the watershed study closed out the victory, he says, “I put ditch system leading to the neighbor- was done. Green, who evacuated down the footrest on my recliner, and ing Bluehouse Swamp area was before Matthew, returned to find 10-15 my feet went ‘squish’.” The carpet in estimated to easily handle 4,600 cubic inches of water in his house. He had his low-lying living room was soaked. feet per second (cfs) of runoff in a spent $60,000 getting it back in good Green hustled his wife and grand- 100-year rain event. The new road shape after October 2015, much of that daughter out of the higher section of was estimated to add 100 cfs, and the from a Small Business Administration the house and drove out of the additional flow enters the system loan. Now, he needs to start all over with the stripping of floors and sheet- rock to prevent mold problems. The only mild solace: He learned one important lesson in October 2015 and bought flood insurance between the two events, so most of the repair costs won’t come out of his pocket this time around. Green would gladly take a buyout offer for his house. “The only thing they can do is get us out of here now,” he says, “because the next flood is going to do the same thing.” After the 2015 floods, North Charleston requested FEMA flood recovery money that could be used to buy and demolish up to nine homes that have flooded multiple times on New Ryder Road in Northwoods Estates. Funds and approval from FEMA hadn’t come through by October 2016, and those homes CHANGING LANDSCAPE. North Charleston city officials have pledged to do a hydrology study to determine what’s causing backups, and how to prevent them, in flooded again. The homes that flooded ­Pepperhill and other nearby subdivisions. in Pepperhill in 2015 weren’t eligible PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM for that round of buyouts because

6 • Coastal Heritage they weren’t considered repetitive loss properties. They might be eligible if FEMA designates buyout funds for Matthew flood victims. In 2015, there were 1,508 homes statewide considered repetitive loss properties, up from 1,131 in 1998 before , according to FEMA. The number most likely will go up due to Hurricane Matthew. In addition to seeking funds for a watershed study for the Bluehouse Swamp area, North Charleston offi- cials have discussed strengthening building codes. The city already requires a one-foot freeboard, or bot- tom floors one foot above 100-year flood level, in new construction. The city of Conway enacted a two-foot freeboard after Hurricane Floyd flood- ing in 1999. A recent federal mandate SWOLLEN WATERWAY. The Black River hit record flood heights in October 2015, requires all buildings constructed with turning farm buildings in Williamsburg County into unnatural islands. federal funds have at least a two-foot PHOTO/MARIA COX LAMM/S.C. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES freeboard, and all critical infrastruc- ture must have a three-foot freeboard. problem areas. One section, on Also, homes in sections of the Those types of flood resilience steps Calhoun Street from East Bay to Shadowmoss Plantation subdivision could be an important effect of the Meeting streets, was completed in have flooded multiple times in recent 2015 and 2016 flooding, experts say. 2001. Another in the Market Street decades. A complex of townhomes area was mostly finished by October flooded for the first time in 1986. Then SOLUTIONS CAN BE COMPLEX, 2015. Flooding in those areas in new homes constructed in a section COSTLY October 2015 was minimal, but storm along Bees Ferry Road flooded multiple surge during Hurricane Matthew times in the 1990s. Charleston has more experience backed up several feet deep in the This prompted the city and with flooding than most communities city market. Charleston County to fund a project in South Carolina. A big chunk of the The worst flooding in Charleston’s that installed three new 72-inch peninsula’s infrastructure has been city limits in 2015 wasn’t on the penin- ­culverts through a nearby railroad built on top of filled-in tidal creeks, sula; it was in suburban neighborhoods berm in 1997. When those homes which routinely are the first places to west of the Ashley River. “When it flooded again, the city knew some- flood during extreme tides or heavy floods there, it floods from thunder- thing was going on in the Church rain. Charleston city leaders have put storms,” says Laura Cabiness, director Creek basin that drains Shadowmoss resilience in the forefront. The city of the city’s Department of Public and surrounding communities. came up with a comprehensive sea- Service. “Those can “The homes that flooded weren’t level rise strategy, with nearly 80 happen two or three times a year, and in the FEMA flood zone,” Cabiness recommended initiatives based on sea they’re very tricky to predict. With a says. “We did a mapping study, and level rising 1.5 to 2.5 feet in 50 years. hurricane, we have time to evacuate the FEMA flood maps were just down- City leaders in recent years have people. With these thunderstorms, right wrong when those areas were approved two property tax increases we don’t have much time. So now, developed.” and a stormwater utility fee. The city in addition to watching sea-level rise It appeared, Cabiness says, the has spent, or plans to spend, $235 and storm surge, we’re watching these flood maps were influenced more by million on stormwater improvement rainfall events.” storm surge than by rainfall. The projects from 1990-2020. Charleston was aware of the potential blocking effect of the railroad The work involves digging shafts potential for flooding in the suburbs. berm on the eastern side of the devel- down more than 100 feet, carving The first of the city’s stormwater opment was seen as a positive against horizontal tunnels, and installing improvement projects in the 1990s was storm surge coming up from the coast, pumps to move water away from in the Ardmore area of West Ashley. but it also served as an impediment for

Fall 2016 • 7 swale and into the road, but the homes didn’t flood in October 2015 or during Hurricane Matthew.

BUILDING BETTER FLOOD MAPS

Accurate flood mapping is another important component of resilience, and the science behind it keeps getting better. In August 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini­ stration (NOAA) launched the National Water Model, a new forecast- ing tool designed to offer more detailed and timely flood forecasts. Powerful NOAA computers crunch data from more than 8,000 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauges nationally, creating simulations for 2.7 million locations. “This model expands our forecast locations 700 times and generates several additional water variables, such BUILDING RESILIENCE. New homes in the Fox Hollow subdivision on James Island didn’t flood in 2015 or 2016, in part because the developer used low-impact design as soil moisture, runoff, stream veloc- techniques that reduced hard surfaces, raised houses, and detained stormwater in a ity, and other parameters to produce a natural swale. more comprehensive picture of water PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM behavior across the country,” says Thomas Graziano, director of NOAA’s heavy rainfall flowing out of the neigh- or absorption—the runoff of Office of Water Prediction. borhood toward the coast. After a city 10-year or 25-year floods. After its 2002 The model might have helped mapping project in 2002, additional mapping project, Charleston required emergency personnel during the stormwater storage areas were added to all new development in the Church October 2015 floods. After Hurricane the basin, a diversion project was built Creek basin be designed to handle Matthew, it factored in rainfall and to intercept runoff on the east side of runoff of a 100-year flood. “We have to soil conditions in the Black River Shawdowmoss, and a culvert was built look at our options today, make smart watershed around Kingstree and to move more water from the town- choices, and look ahead with the best ­correctly forecast the river would home complex to a nearby pond. science in mind,” Cabiness says. peak at about half the volume of the Those improvements were designed to Joshua Robinson is on the leading 2015 flood. handle 20 percent more stormwater. edge of such a smart-building trend. In South Carolina, College of That didn’t prevent flooding in His firm, Robinson Design Engineers, Charleston professor Norman Levine the neighborhood in 2015 or 2016. created a low-impact concept for the is creating a mapping tool to forecast The townhomes and several other Fox Hollow subdivision on James flooding at a more precise level. homes in the subdivision filled with Island, near Charleston. “With low- Funded by a NOAA grant obtained several feet of water in both cases. impact design, you try to mimic the through the S.C. Sea Grant Consor­ Those are among the homes Charles­ natural hydrology,” Robinson says. tium and the Charleston Resilience ton has proposed to buy, with home­­- “You slow down the movement Network, Levine’s mapping tool uses owners’ permission, and demolish of water with vegetation so it can LiDAR laser-measured elevations with federal mitigation funds. infiltrate.” accurate to within +/– 5 centimeters The area around Shadowmoss The 2.65-acre Fox Hollow devel- (about 2 inches) to show which por- continues to be developed at a rapid opment features nine homes built with tions of Charleston County will flood pace, but builders in those neigh­ raised crawl spaces on a slight berm on during certain conditions. The maps borhoods now face strict runoff one side of a narrow, winding road, factor in rainfall amounts, tidal stages, regulations. In most of the state, storm- with a stormwater detention swale on and stormwater infrastructure, includ- water systems in new developments the other side. There are no pipes to ing locations of storm drains and size must be designed to handle—through direct rainfall. Water rose out of the of pipes. Eventually, they will

8 • Coastal Heritage incor­porate soil type, number of trees, emergency management director, gency management director. “We used locations of wetlands, and percent hopes others in the state will learn sign posts, even broken down tractors of impervious surface, Levine says. from the Floyd fallout in his county. in yards. You see how high the water is A prototype of the mapping tool Buyouts work best if the homes pur- on the tires in the morning, then proved incredibly accurate during an chased can be clustered together. In check later in the day. You could see October 2015 test run. It estimated two communities on the banks of the the wave as it moved across the extreme flooding that coincided with a Waccamaw River, only a few home- county, but it took us a while to figure tidal event, called a “King Tide,” would owners took the post-Floyd buyout. out the rise and fall.” reach the edge of a fountain at the Many homes in those neighborhoods Upstream of Georgetown County intersection of Morris and Jasper flooded in October 2015 and again during the 2015 flood, a gauge estab- streets in Charleston. It also predicted after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. lished in 1973 on the Black River in the street would flood but not the alley “We have a lot of little donut-hole Kingstree hit 22.65 feet, nearly three between houses across from the foun- FEMA properties,” Webster says. “We feet higher than the highest previous tain. Photos taken during the King don’t have enough all together to flood. Georgetown County residents Tide almost identically match the create a wetland to help with flooding. knew the water was coming, they just mapping tool’s blocky one-meter We learned from that, and from this didn’t have a good handle on when estimates. point forward, we will target areas to and where to evacuate or when they The team working with Levine is create wetlands.” could safely return to their homes. updating those maps and expanding During the 2015 and 2016 events, Hodge praised USGS, which them to include the entire county Horry County emergency officials at rushed out 16 teams to measure under the NOAA grant. Then least knew what areas were likely to high-water marks and place rapid- Elizabeth Fly, coastal climate extension flood as rivers specialist with the Consortium, will began to swell lead an effort to help community with rain and leaders, infrastructure managers, and runoff. They had the general public understand how the Floyd experi- the maps can be utilized. ence as well as The maps can be tools to guide accurate read- emergency officials on where to place ings from barriers to stop drivers from entering upstream river high water, and where to position gauges. George­ rescue boats before a flood. They could town and inform the renovation of buildings and Williamsburg improvements to infrastructure on the counties didn’t nearly built-out Charleston peninsula. have recent The maps can also help position flooding experi- neighborhoods to be better prepared ence or as much for what may come next. river data avail- able. USGS, HURRICANE FLOYD TAUGHT which manages LESSONS IN 1999 river-level moni- toring systems The most recent severe wide- nationwide, has spread flooding in South Carolina that no gauges in occurred before October 2015 was Georgetown during Hurricane Floyd, which hit County, and few Horry County harder than any other. in Williamsburg. Floyd damaged more than 1,000 homes “We had to in Horry County, and $8.6 million in make river-level federal and state mitigation funds forecasts using allowed the county and the city old-school of Conway to buy out about 100 methods,” says RECURRING DILEMMA. Rain combined with high tide often properties for demolition, according Sam Hodge, creates nuisance floods like this one in 2014 in Charleston and lead to FEMA. George­town to conversations about resilience. Randy Webster, Horry County’s County’s emer- PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM

Fall 2016 • 9 deployment gauges in local rivers in heavy rain to coastal South Carolina, university researchers. Prompted by October 2015. John Shelton, supervi- local officials knew to ask for rapid- difficulty locating that data during the sory hydrologist with the USGS in deployment gauges before the storm’s October 2015 flood, the S.C. Sea South Carolina, acknowledged the arrival. And as Matthew’s impacts Grant Consortium pulled together 2015 flood brought to light several gaps transitioned from coastal hurricane those entities to create the S.C. in the system. His agency would like to surge to inland flooding, some of the Coastal Water Monitoring Network have more gauges, but it relies on state gauges were moved to inland communi- and design an online portal to make or local agencies and private businesses ties, Shelton says. The state had fewer the sharing of their information easier. to pick up the cost of installing and gauges available—nine in 2016 versus maintaining them. 13 in 2015—because it couldn’t borrow LESSONS CAN BE UPBEAT High-tech gauges, which beam gauges from storm-threatened Georgia information to , cost $15,000- this time. But earlier and more strategic While most of the lessons learned $18,000 up-front and about $15,000 per deployment allowed those fewer gauges from the October 2015 flooding were year to operate. There are 164 gauges to provide more timely data to emer- practical, one was especially heart­ in the state providing real-time data. gency officials. ening: People really want to help. The number has increased steadily in NOAA’s new National Water Volunteer groups flocked to hard-hit recent years, but gauge density is lack- Model offers another alternative for communities. The challenge was how ing in South Carolina compared to places like northwestern Georgetown to take advantage of their offers. “We neighboring states, Shelton says. County with few permanent USGS know our local volunteer agencies, but Legislation introduced during the 2016 gauges. In addition, a new tool in when volunteers were coming from session to appropriate state funds for South Carolina could help by making everywhere, it was kind of overwhelm- 70-100 new gauges failed to gain it easy to find water quantity and ing,” says Hodge, Georgetown County’s approval. water quality data generated by USGS, emergency management director. The USGS and coastal emergency U.S. Forest Service, S.C. Department Georgetown and Williamsburg officials made the most of their lessons of Natural Resources, S.C. county officials found residents were from 2015. As forecasts indicated Department of Health and more comfortable dealing with local Hurricane Matthew was going to bring Environmental Control, and groups, so they channeled monetary donations through the local United Way, says Stanley Pasley, county super- visor in Williamsburg County. The United Way ended up hiring a tem­ porary coordinator to handle the volunteers and donations. A year after the 2015 flooding, nearly 1,200 volunteers from the char- ity Eight Days of Hope flocked to the Kingstree-Andrews area for a blitz recovery effort to repair homes. Three weeks before the October blitz, volun- teers Johnny Wildes and Garrett Ganas of Waycross, Georgia, were on the advance team assessing what work needed to be done. They found homes with gaping holes in the roofs, walls speckled with mold, or entire walls torn out to remove mold. Compared to those families, Martha McFadden was lucky. The 2015 floodwater from a nearby creek reached the edge of the crawl space on the back of her modest home in rural Williamsburg County, but she didn’t Williamsburg County homeowner Martha McFadden prays WELCOME RELIEF. have to evacuate. A year later, she had with Eight Days of Hope volunteer Johnny Wildes after her home was evaluated for repair work. a few moldy spots on the ceiling and PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM on a bathroom wall, a collapsed roof

10 • Coastal Heritage HELPING HANDS. Johnny Wildes and Garrett Ganas, volunteers with Eight Days of Hope, measure a Williamsburg County home’s roof in preparation of the national charity’s blitz effort to repair lingering damage from the October 2015 flood. PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM over the garage, and a weathered tarp Lumber rivers. property? Will drivers heed the “turn on the roof over a bedroom. “I sit in “The biggest takeaway for me and around, don’t drown” warnings? my chair when it rains and pray the for the county is no one could have Will homeowners outside of flood water doesn’t come through,” imagined the extreme devastation that zones buy flood insurance to protect McFadden says. “I get scared every took place in such a short period of their investment? Will communities time I hear about a storm.” time,” Pasley says of the 2015 flooding. give flood potential more consideration Wildes and Ganas checked out “A lot of our folks who experienced as they update building codes and the damage to McFadden’s house and the storm in the most dire manner, zoning plans? Will builders design new included it on the Eight Days of Hope they’re experiencing a new way of homes and new developments to better project list. McFadden thanked them life, a new norm. It changed life handle floods? for their willingness to help, and, permanently.” Specific steps like those are impor- after a closing prayer, there were hugs tant, but the Consortium’s Fly thinks all around. CAN MOMENTUM BE truly building resilience depends in Unfortunately, the volunteers ­MAINTAINED? part on changing attitudes. ended up spending the first few days “Disasters such as these are emo- clearing 140 trees Hurricane Matthew But will the October 2015 floods tional events for people, and often had tossed onto buildings and roads. and Hurricane Matthew’s destructive cause those affected to want to build They still managed to repair 70 homes. visit in 2016 really change the way we back to the way things were,” Fly says. Fortu­nately, the Black River in live? “What’s important post-event is to act Kingstree and Andrews didn’t rise as Will people clean debris from their on the emotion and the motivation high after Hurricane Matthew. But ditches the next time the forecast calls people have to not only build back, but the 2016 floods brought the same type for 10 inches of rain? Will they treat build back smarter so that maybe next of destruction to communities 50-60 heavy rainfall predictions like hurri- time we can reduce the damage and miles away on the Little Pee Dee and cane forecasts and evacuate low-lying the suffering.”

Fall 2016 • 11 Flood insurance: Because “we all live in a flood plain”

A couple of important and related lessons must be continually re-learned after each major flood. Although mortgage companies only require flood insurance for those living in the flood zone designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), it also is a good invest- ment for those outside the flood zone. For instance, in the North Charleston area, 40 percent of homeowners who filed FEMA quick claims for damage after the October 2015 floods lived outside the flood zone, and almost none of them had flood insurance. Federal assistance is available for those without flood insurance, but it is designed simply to get residents back on their feet. Payments to the 28,163 uninsured households eligible for FEMA assistance in South Carolina in 2015 averaged $3,169, and only about 28 percent of those who applied were deemed eligible. Russ Dubisky, director of the S.C. Insurance News Service, has been preaching this message for years. Even if your mortgage lender doesn’t require flood insurance, it’s a good idea if you live anywhere near water. “We hear it all the time after an event: ‘It’s never flooded here before,’ ” Dubisky says. “The reality is, we all live in a flood plain.” Despite the relative lack of flood- ing in South Carolina since 2000, the ANOTHER CLEANUP. Many residents in North Charleston’s Pepperhill subdivision number of flood insurance policies in didn’t have flood insurance before the October 2015 floods hit them hard. They were the state jumped from 105,000 in 1999 required to buy flood insurance to accept federal recovery funds, and they will face less to 199,300 before the 2015 floods, with of a financial blow after Hurricane Matthew flooding. another 1,200 policies taken out PHOTO/GRACE BEAHM between the October 2015 and October 2016 floods, according to and Atmospheric Administration’s cost of flood insurance premiums by FEMA. The long-term increase can be Coastal County Snapshot. 5-to-45 percent for their residents if partially attributed to new construc- Fortunately, many of those new steps are taken to reduce flood damage. tion in flood zones. For example, of homes have been built with flood Some of the recommended actions 11,340 acres of land converted to resilience in mind in cities and coun- include publicizing which areas are development in Charleston County ties that participate in the Community flood-prone, developing updated flood from 1996-2010, nearly 44 percent was Rating System (CRS), an initiative of maps, regulating the runoff allowed in a FEMA-designated flood plain, FEMA’s National Flood Insurance from new developments, and routinely according to the National Oceanic Program. Communities can reduce the inspecting culverts and ditches.

12 • Coastal Heritage Storm surge: “Powerful is an understatement”

Hurricane Matthew hit South Carolina with storm surge, the one variety of flooding the state had avoided in the October 2015 rain event, and that meant new lessons. The first was that storm surge height is less important than inunda- tion depth. Charleston Harbor registered a storm surge of just over six feet during Matthew, but that peak fortunately arrived close to low tide. The inundation depth­—or height of water above local ground level—was one-to-two feet on the low-lying por- tions of the Charleston peninsula. On the other hand, Matthew’s MIGHTY FORCE. Sand flushed nearly two blocks inland at Edisto Beach indicates the surge hit closer to high tide on Hilton power of Hurricane Matthew’s storm surge. Head Island, Hunting Island, and PHOTO/S.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL Edisto Beach, creating higher inunda- tion levels. At Edisto, the National Island State Park. “The surge is real, Gaines says. “Evacuation of staff and Weather Service reported a water line and too often we don’t really see its visitors is imperative.” about four-feet high on a house across impact,” says Phil Gaines, director of The park staff knew what to do from the beach. S.C. State Parks. “We focus on the from past hurricanes, but Matthew Matthew also offered a reminder dramatic visuals of twisted and impressed the message on a new gen- of the power of surge, the wall of water downed trees.” eration. Park employees left ahead of created by hurricane winds and low Powerful moving water rushed the storm, and they had equipment pressure. The force pushed so much over dunes and through Hunting secure and ready to get back once the sand onto Edisto Beach’s Palmetto Island’s oceanfront campground, water began to subside, Gaines says. Boulevard it appeared the beach had tearing the door off a bathroom and Three weeks after Matthew, all of the moved a block or two inland. depositing sand so deep it nearly cov- parks—with the exception of Hunting Storm surge estimated at around ered the toilet seats. Island and the oceanfront campground nine feet took its toll on Hunting “Powerful is an understatement,” at Edisto Beach—were open again.

Reading and Websites

Carolinas Integrated Sciences and FEMA National Flood Insurance Program S.C. Department of Commerce: State of Assessments: The South Carolina Floods Community Rating System. South Carolina: Action Plan for Disaster of October 2015. www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance- Recovery. www.cisa.sc.edu program-community-rating-system http://sccommerce.com/sites/default/ files/all/forpostingsouth_carolina_ac- Charleston Resilience Network: Under- NOAA National Water Model. tion_plan_1600623_publiccomment.pdf standing the October 2015 Charleston www.water.noaa.gov/about/nwm Floods: A Symposium Report. S.C. Emergency Management Division: www.charlestonresilience.net/flood- NOAA Service Assessment: The Historic Hazard Mitigation Plan. symposium South Carolina Floods of October 1-5, http://scemd.org/files/Mitigation/ 2015. State_Hazard_Mitigation_Plan/1_ City of Charleston Sea-Level Rise Strategy. www.nws.noaa.gov/os/assessments/ SHMP_FINAL_2013.pdf www.charleston-sc.gov/Document pdfs/SCFlooding_072216_Signed_ Center/View/10089 Final.pdf S.C. Sea Grant Consortium: “Compilation of Lessons Learned,” Vol. 29, No. 4, Fall S.C. Coastal Water Monitoring Network 2016 issue of Coastal Heritage. Data Portal. www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=917 www.scseagrant.org

Fall 2016 • 13 Georgetown. This study will build outcomes of various levels of Consortium receives on that work by focusing on sources management. $1.33 million for of black plastic fragment debris and • Genetic diversity in historic overfished Sea Grant activities its toxicity in grass shrimp, cope- populations and contemporary pods, and mummichogs. recovered populations of black sea bass. The National Sea Grant College • Safeguarding environmental and public Tanya Darden, S.C. Department of Program awarded $1.33 million to the health by developing a tool to rapidly Natural Resources. Researchers will S.C. Sea Grant Consortium to support detect cyanobacteria that can cause use a collection of bones from black the first year of its research, extension, harmful algal blooms (HABs). Dianne sea bass to determine changes communications, and education efforts Greenfield, University of South through time in the genetic diversity for 2016-2018. As part of this award, Carolina and S.C. Department of of the population. Genetic samples the following eight peer-reviewed Natural Resources, and William from bones from known periods of research projects were selected for Jones, University of South Carolina. over-fishing and recovery can funding. More details are posted Researchers will develop a genetic determine how population size on the Consortium’s website at tool and assess its effectiveness in impacts genetic diversity. The data www.scseagrant.org/Research. early and cost-effective detection of will help managers understand the a toxin associated with HABs. population’s ability to recover and its COASTAL AND OCEAN LANDSCAPE • Determining potential sedimentation adaptability to environmental • How does coastal development impact rates in stormwater ponds to help assess change. groundwater inputs to estuarine tidal future dredging costs. Erik Smith and creeks? Alicia Wilson and Erik Claudia Benitez-Nelson, University HAZARD RESILIENCE IN COASTAL Smith, University of South of South Carolina. Researchers will COMMUNITIES Carolina. Researchers will assess the determine sediment accumulation • Adaptability toolkit for South Carolina’s impact of coastal development on rates in a variety of stormwater coastal water infrastructures. Kalyan nutrients that move into tidal creeks ponds in coastal South Carolina. Piratla, Clemson University. The underground at various develop- That data will help better predict project is a collaboration among ment sites. The study will measure the need for future dredging and will research scientists, water infrastruc- variations in the concentration of measure nutrient concentrations in ture agencies, and consumer groups nutrients in groundwater with a goal pond sediments to help better to predict the future impacts of of building models to better describe understand the role of ponds in climate change on water infrastruc- the impact of development sites on nutrient sequestration. tures. Science-based analysis of the nutrient level in tidal creeks. potential challenges and costs of SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES AND adaptation strategies will aid in SUSTAINABLE COASTAL AQUACULTURE planning for climate resilience. ­DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMY • Determining the optimal balance of • Designing low-impact development • Sources and impacts of microplastic stock enhancement and harvest (LID) technologies to better respond to contamination in Charleston Harbor reduction to restore inshore cobia intense rainfall events. Nigel Kay and and Winyah Bay. Peter Van den population in South Carolina. Tanya William Martin, Clemson Hurk and Charles Rice, Clemson Darden, S.C. Department of Natural University. Researchers will develop University, and John Weinstein, Resources. The genetically distinct models to help quantify the hydrau- The Citadel. Previous studies have inshore population of cobia in South lic and hydrologic capacity of LID found high concentrations of Carolina waters has declined to the technology, including green roofs microplastics in estuarine inver­ point conservation action might be and porous pavement. Models tebrates such as grass shrimp necessary. Researchers will develop developed will predict the impact of in Charleston Harbor, and lower a model of cobia genetics and LID technologies at various volumes concentrations in Winyah Bay near population variables to help forecast of rainfall.

14 • Coastal Heritage they learned from Aquarium staff tions. The Consortium then contacted Consortium teaches members about the impacts of climate a number of state and federal agencies climate change change on marine wildlife. and academic institutions that ­concepts to educators Each activity included connec- conduct long-term and event-based tions to lesson plans and other monitoring programs. Educators from throughout the resources to pass along the knowledge “Together with these partners, country explored strategies for to students. Educators who didn’t the Consortium is developing a incorporating climate change into attend the workshop can find educa- web-based visualization tool—the S.C. educational activities during a two-day tional tools focused on climate change Coastal Water Monitoring Network,” workshop at the South Carolina at www.climate.gov/teaching. said Rick DeVoe, Consortium execu- Aquarium in August. tive director. “When completed, this E.V. Bell, the tool will allow scientists, resource S.C. Sea Grant managers, policy-makers, and citizens Consortium’s marine to easily identify water resource education specialist, monitoring locations. They can gather and Elizabeth Fly, the information on who is conducting the Consortium’s coastal monitoring, the parameters being climate extension monitored and measured, and click on specialist, received a link to the website where detailed funding from the data and information for each location National Oceanic can be accessed.” and Atmospheric Partners in the effort to date Administration include Coastal Carolina University; (NOAA) Climate College of Charleston; S.C. Stewards Program to Department of Natural Resources; host the “Rising Tides S.C. Department of Health and and Changing Times” Educators from throughout the country gathered at the South Carolina Environmental Control; University of workshop. Aquarium to explore incorporating climate change into educational South Carolina; U.S. Forest Service; Formal and ­activities. U.S. Geological Survey; North PHOTO/SUSAN FERRIS HILL/S.C. SEA GRANT CONSORTIUM informal educators Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine from South Carolina, Research Reserve; and Charleston North Carolina, Georgia, New Jersey, Flood information Waterkeeper. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, gap prompts water The visualization tool is designed Washington, D.C., and U.S. Virgin monitoring data portal to serve as a time-saving first step for Islands attended. Partners in the effort water-resource managers and research- included the Consortium, the While scenes of flooded neighbor- ers, whether anticipating future Aquarium, NOAA, and the National hoods, failed dams, and washed out events or examining archived data on Park Service. roads in South Carolina made head- historical events, such as Hurricane Educators discussed the past, lines nationwide in October 2015, the Hugo or the 2015 and 2016 flooding. present, and future of Fort Sumter deluge also impacted water quality. It provides a baseline for understand- during a trip to the national monu- In the aftermath of the event, the ing the status of water resources and ment in Charleston Harbor. They S.C. Sea Grant Consortium recognized context for the impacts of climate and scurried through Charleston on an the need for a readily accessible, weather events. “Amazing Race”-style scavenger hunt common platform to illustrate and The tool is accessible from that showcased the challenges share information on hydrological and the Consortium’s homepage at associated with sea-level rise. And water-quality monitoring site loca- www.scseagrant.org.

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American Coastal GeoTools Aquatic Sciences ­Meteorological North Charleston, Meeting Society Meeting South Carolina Honolulu, Hawaii Seattle, Washington February 6-9, 2017 February 26-March 3, 2017 January 22-26, 2017 This conference brings together Ocean scientists, engineers, edu- More than 3,000 scientists, educa- watershed scientists, stakeholders, cators, students, and policy-makers tors, students, and other professionals and managers to share scientific come together to address marine- gather to learn about the latest in advances and management strategies science issues. Sponsored by the climate, weather, and water. The 2017 to sustain the country’s water Association for the Sciences of meeting theme is “Observations Lead resources. The agenda focuses on Limnology and Oceanography, the the Way,” and sessions will focus on geospatial data, tools, technology, 2017 meeting will embrace the host the priority of obtaining accurate and information for coastal resource state’s cultural perspective linking observations and information. Visit management professionals. For land, water, and people. Visit http:// https://annual.ametsoc.org/2017 for more information, visit http:// aslo.org/meetings/index.html for more more information. coastalgeotools.org. information.

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ATTENTION SCHOOL TEACHERS! The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium has designed supplemental classroom resources for this and past issues of Coastal Heritage magazine. Coastal Heritage Curriculum Connection, written for K-12 educators and their students, is aligned with the South Carolina state standards for the appropriate grade levels. Includes standards-based inquiry questions to lead students through explorations of the topic discussed. Curriculum Connection is available online at www.scseagrant.org/education.

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16 • Coastal Heritage