Coldstream couple files lawsuit against SCE&G

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — A Coldstream couple has filed suit against SCE&G, alleging the company’s release of water through the Lake Murray Dam caused flash flooding in their neighborhood. Thomas and Sharon Funderburk had only been living on Wilton Hill Road for about a week before their home was destroyed in the flood waters. They have not yet sold their original house — they’re living in it while they repair their new home. They want SCE&G to pay for the damage. “Prior to all this flooding, which we’ve heard about for a week, you’ve had time to do a draw down, so why didn’t you do any of it then?” Sharon Funderburk asks. The Funderburks say they had no idea SCE&G planned to release water from the dam. The electric company, which owns the dam, says it gave people plenty of warning. The Coldstream community sits north of the Lower Saluda River and east of the Lake Murray Dam. Funderburk says the area should have been evacuated. We talked to SCE&G spokesman Eric Boomhower, who could not comment on the lawsuit, but did talk to us about the company’s response to the release of water from the Lake Murray Dam, which it owns. He says they released about a half a foot in the days leading up to the rainfall. “Our folks did everything they could during this flooding event, within the perimeters of our operating license, to try to minimize the impact of lake levels and river levels for area residents.” On October 2nd, they sent out a press release to news outlets, letting people know that they had started operating the Saluda Hydro electric generating plant, which releases water from the lake into the lower Saluda River. In addition to social media postings, Boomhower sent an email out to media just after 9:30 a.m. Sunday. He says they started opening the flood gates at noon. “We had people working around the clock throughout this event to do the best they could,” Boomhower says. He says the most water being released at any time was about 50,000 cubic feet per second. “The spillway gate system is a series of gates,” Boomhower says. “Some of them were open part-ways, and closed, so it was kind of fluctuating throughout the event, so we would open and close gates as necessary based on the inflows into the lake.” The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, oversees SCE&G’s management of the dam. FERC requires lakes levels to be kept at or below 360 feet. At its highest, Boomhower says the lake reached 359.65 feet in elevation. Funderburk’s lawyer, Jake Moore, says that does not matter. “They know when you open those gates with that much water, they know or should know, what the result is going to be,” Moore says. He says he’s working with about 20 other people on individual lawsuits against SCE&G. “Even if they did it right, opening those flood gates destroyed people’s homes in pursuit of their business, it seems to me that the loss shouldn’t fall on the homeowners, it should fall on the business which is responsible for creating the flood in the first place,” Moore says. He says he’s still working to learn exactly what happened and within what time frame. The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department did issue a voluntary evacuation around 4 p.m. Sunday, to areas within a quarter mile of the banks of the Lexington County side of the Saluda and Congaree rivers. That recommendation was based on SCE&G’s release of water from the dam.