Columbia has extensive flood recovery wish list

Columbia officials plan to request $175 million from FEMA to pay for nearly a dozen disaster hazard mitigation projects, though just $36 million for such projects is available for the entire state.

But Assistant City Manager Missy Gentry said that amount could drop as the city finds other sources to help pay for the projects. But she told City Council on Tuesday that Columbia would include the projects on its application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, knowing “there’s not enough money there to fund all of them.”

Columbia, Richland County and other local governments in South Carolina will be competing for the FEMA hazard mitigation grants that became available after the historic Oct. 4 storm.

Among the 11 projects the city has identified are $40 million in improvements to the Columbia Canal, $40 million to establish a secondary water source for downtown water customers, $10 million for flood-damaged property buyouts and $7 million for stream restoration and retention. The estimates are “ballpark numbers,” Gentry said.

FEMA hazard mitigation grants pay for 75 percent of the project cost, meaning local governments must come up with the rest. The city’s share of the 11 projects would be $43.75 million. Gentry said Columbia could use other federal funds, including the $20 million in HUD funds recently allocated to Columbia for flood recovery, to cover some of that cost.

Columbia officials haven’t yet ranked the projects, but Gentry said the Columbia Canal, which was breached during the storm, is likely to top the pre-application for funding that must be submitted by early April.

“We’re certainly committed to doing that,” Gentry said. “That’s our priority project, but that does not mean the others are not just as important. Obviously, as our whole community felt the impact of our threatened water source, that has to be our priority.”

The breach of the dam that separates Columbia Canal from its water source, the Congaree River, caused most of Columbia’s 375,000 water customers to go without drinkable water for 10 days. City officials said earlier the canal would cost $100 million to repair.

City officials and council members met on Tuesday to review the flood’s damage and to discuss possible funding sources for recovery efforts.

Those sources include the $36 million up for grabs through the FEMA hazard mitigation program, the $20 million in HUD funds and direct reimbursements from FEMA through its public assistance program.

Gentry presented the council photos of damaged private and public property, including the canal and the sewer plant, to demonstrate the sweep of the storm’s severity.

About 450 properties suffered damage, and the city has issued about 250 building permits for repairs, Gentry said. Roughly 75 properties citywide were substantially damaged, meaning the cost of restoring the structure would be at least 50 percent of its pre-disaster market value, city engineer Dana Higgins said.

Gentry also reminded council members that the city collected 3,800 tons of streetside debris after the flood.

“That was not garbage,” she said. “That was people’s livelihood. That was their memories and their valuables that they had to place on the side of the street.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Columbia has extensive flood recovery wish list."