Construction Underway to Repair Rockyford Lake Dam
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)-After 16 months of living in the aftermath of the October flood some Richland County homeowners are taxing themselves to have their private dam fixed.
It’s been a long time coming but the wait is finally over for residents who live by the Rockyford Lake Dam, which is one of the many destroyed during the historic October 2015 flood.
“We’re very happy to see the bridges in construction,” resident, Ken Ventell said.
Homeowners who lived in Forest Acres still remember the historic October flood.
“We left with our dogs in a boat and we went to our neighbor’s house across the streets house because she has a second floor,” Ventell said. “We just waited to see what would happen not knowing that the dam above us broke.”
After months of living with a drained lake, residents are now waking up to construction work to repair and refill the Rockyford Lake.
“It’s the best news I’ve heard all day,” homeowner, Aimme Stewart said. “It was a great Valentine’s Day gift to know that this one is under construction. It’s going to open up a lot of good traffic patterns for us again.”
It doesn’t come without a hefty price tag. Roughly 17 homeowners who live on lower Rockyford lake have to pay more than $100,000 a piece to get things back to normal.
“Its been impassable to cars and even pedestrians due to debris on it and some holes in the road, “Stewart said. “So it’s really impacted kids being able to ride their bikes through the neighborhood, and cars being able to navigate to the other side of these lakes.”
“Its been over a year now since we’ve had these bridges open and it just makes our commute getting to places a lot longer,” Ventell said. “Just getting down to Forest Drive and Trenholm Road has been a little more complicated.”
The homeowners who live on the lake agreed a few months ago to a tax increase.
