Richland County to spend more than $20 million to fix damage caused by 2015 floods
Richland County has approved a plan to spend more than $20 million to help fortify the county against future flooding — and that could lead to help with some residents’ housing needs.
Richland County Council approved a plan to distribute $21.8 million in federal dollars from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help the county recover from lingering problems from the devastating 2015 flood.
The federal funding will be focused on lower-income communities in the county. Around half of the census blocks in Richland County have a majority of low-to-moderate income residents, with most of those communities clustered in the city of Columbia, around the town of Irmo and in Lower Richland. Two-thirds of the total losses in floodplains occurred in these low-income areas, and another 38% of damaged homes on floodplains occurred in lower-income areas.
The program includes $3 million to buy up flood-prone properties. The program will be open to residents with homes in flood hazard or “repetitive loss” area. The county will pay the pre-disaster value of the home, which will then be demolished and maintained as open space.
Another $6 million will be spent on housing rehabilitation, paying for home repair and improvements with the goal of mitigating future storm and flood damage. To be eligible, a home must have been damaged by the 2015 flood, but a homeowner need not have previously registered with FEMA for relief. But the applicant must have lived in the house during the flood, and will continue to live in a repaired home as their primary residence.
Money will be distributed as a five-year loan, with one-fifth of the loan being forgiven every year the homeowner remains in compliance with the program.
Other spending from the program will go to improving water resources. Another $7 million will be spent on stormwater and drainage infrastructure, with projects based on the county’s existing stormwater plan to improve pipes, culverts and catch basins, especially in lower-income areas. The focus of the program will be on drainage, floodplain management, and water quality.
The smallest component of the plan, $832,500, will go toward water infrastructure, primarily meant to help bolster firefighting services in rural parts of the county. The money will replace water infrastructure damaged by the 2015 flood and dig an additional three wells on county-owned property to support fire suppression efforts.
Clayton Voignier, the county’s director of community planning and development, told the county council quarterly updates on the program’s progress will be posted on the county website.
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