Columbia’s Five Points has a flooding problem. Could a $60M plan fix it?
Today, Columbia’s Five Points is one of the city’s most beloved, bustling business districts. But more than a century ago, the area was a vast wetland. Every time the capital city gets heavy rain, residents and business owners are reminded of that.
Five Points has a flooding problem.
Some businesses keep sandbags and industrial vacuums on hand to combat the rainwater that often pushes through the front doors of businesses on Saluda and Blossom streets. One business owner previously told The State that she keeps her furniture on risers to limit the inevitable water damage that comes with every heavy storm.
As Columbia stares down a week of rain, city leaders are weighing a major project they hope could ease the persistent flooding.
The proposal would add underground tunnels called culverts beneath certain roadways to move stormwater through Five Points. The new culvert system would begin at Martin Luther King Jr. Park and channel water into Maxcy Gregg Park that sits below the district.
From there, additional work would help collect the water and release it more slowly into Rocky Branch Creek from the park.
The work could have a big impact. City projections show the project could shrink the flood footprint by more than half during heavy rain.
“We’ve been studying Five Points for a long time,” said Columbia City Manager Clint Shealy, who oversees the city’s water and stormwater infrastructure.
In recent years, the city spent about $1 million on a stormwater retention project at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, one piece of a larger effort to address chronic flooding.
“This is a much larger, home-run-type solution,” Shealy said.
The project is far from set in stone. Whether the city moves forward with the plan will depend on what a consultant says. The city must also find tens of millions of dollars to cover the project.
The full project, which includes enhancing Maxcy Gregg Park, is expected to cost about $58.5 million. The city anticipates receiving $19 million through a South Carolina Emergency Management Division grant, and it has also set aside about $15 million toward the possible work.
City officials have explored other approaches over the years, including a plan that would have routed stormwater from Five Points all the way to the river, an idea Shealy said is not realistic.
Rocky Branch once ran through Five Points, but the city diverted it in 1915 as the neighborhood took shape. The former swamp, however, still sits lower than surrounding areas.
Building the culverts would almost certainly require street closures and disrupt businesses in the district, Shealy acknowledged. Planning the project, he said, would include finding ways to reduce those impacts.
For now, the plan is just an idea. But Shealy said he thinks moving ahead with the work could finally address the flooding that has plagued the district for a century.
