Horry County Government: Partnering To Secure Grant Funding For Stormwater Projects In Horry County

Press release from the Horry County Government:

January 31, 2022

After receiving a grant from SCDHEC in 2019, Horry County initiated a Socastee Creek Watershed Flood Risk and Mitigation Strategies Study with the goal of performing an updated assessment of flood hazards and risk and evaluating potential improvements and actions to mitigate flood risks.

One of the projects recommended by that study was flood benching on Socastee Creek. The proposed floodplain benching involves lowering the channel banks and adjacent overbanks to create a “bench” to provide additional area for flood waters to flow. Floodplain benching increases the flood carrying capacity of a channel corridor while still largely retaining the existing channel to carry base and smaller event flows. Based on the data gathered from the mitigation study, we anticipate this project will help mitigate future flooding in the Socastee and Forestbrook areas of Horry County.

Working together with our state partners, like Representative Heather Crawford, the County was able to secure funding from the state to move forward with the Socastee Creek flood benching project. County Councilmember Cam Crawford and Representative Heather Crawford stopped by today to present staff with the check.

Now that the project is fully funded, we anticipate work will begin in the near future. As more details are available, we will share them with you here. 

This press release was produced by the Horry County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.