Tropical storm Debby threatens flood-prone Charleston

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The low-lying city of Charleston can flood even on sunny days at high tide, so with the threat of 10-20 inches of rain along the South Carolina coast from Tropical Storm Debby, the risk to life and property is at a near-historic high.

By Tuesday morning, maps from the Lowcountry Hazards Center, which has been researching and tracking the rising flood risks along the coast, showed a number of roads due to flooding or in anticipation of high water.

Channel 9 visited the Lowcountry Hazards Center in the spring to learn about how the city’s dual issues of sea level rise and sinking ground are threatening the peninsula. Director Norman Levine explained that when the city floods the worst of it typically accumulates in fill lands and other areas where water once was.

“All of that was water when people first arrived and now they built on top of that,” he said.

The city is now able to anticipate where flooding will start and can prepare barricades so they’re ready to close roads as soon as the water rises. Charleston has also imposed a curfew to keep travelers off the roads and keep throughways clear for emergency personnel. The city has also installed pumps to try and get the water out as quickly as possible.

For a more permanent solution, the city is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to design a sea wall. That aims to mitigate the risk from storm surge and tidal flooding, but it would not help the city cope with heavy rainfall from a storm like Debby.

The Lowcountry Hazards Center believes the most effective way to prevent future loss of life and property is to start working to get it out of harm’s way, by developing on higher ground and returning much of the flood-prone areas to greenspace or wetlands.

“The more impervious cover is less spaces for the soil to soak up and hold flood waters during storm events, also during tidal events,” Landon Knapp, the Coastal Resilience Program Manager with South Carolina Sea Grant said.

The last time Charleston dealt with a flood threat the size of Debby was back in 2015. The region was inundated with 25 inches of rain. In the nearly nine years since, 30,000 more people have moved to Charleston County.

“South Carolina is a very popular place to move right now so we’re getting a lot of influx of folks that are moving here and we get why,” Knapp said. “A lot of the same reasons -- the water, the beauty, right -- is a lot of the same reason we have all of these hazards.”

While this event and 2015′s are extreme, minor flooding is happening regularly in Charleston. Last year, the city had 75 flood events. By 2045, NOAA expects that number to double due to impacts from climate change through sea level rise and an increased risk of rain-makers like Debby.

VIDEO: To keep floodwaters out, Charleston is designing a sea wall

To keep floodwaters out, Charleston is designing a sea wall

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