SC Senate Hears Flood Recovery Update

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Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — State leaders are working to clean up the mess left in the wake of the 1,000 year rainfall that devastated South Carolina residents and destroyed large portions of infrastructure. “The key is right now is to work hard to meet those unmet needs,” explains Recovery Coordinator Col. Kevin Shwedo. Democratic state Senate leaders plan to pre-file a disaster relief bond bill for up to $500 million. The money would be used to aid in flood recovery and 25% could be set aside to repair local roads. “The floods have just absolutely devastated the roads and bridge structures in this state we’re got to address that immediately and address it for the people of South Carolina,” says Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setzler. While not opposed to working in bipartisan effort, others on the panel say that pre-filing would be premature without looking at contingency funds and knowing the total amount of damage. “We’re ready and willing to do what needs to be done after we know what needs to be done,” says Senator Hugh Leatherman. According to the Department of transportation 85% of roads closed following flooding are now up and functioning. This leaves 80 closures in effect. Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall says, “We’re essentially down to just a handful of roads that we can repair relatively quickly. The rest of the roadways are going to be a longer term closures with either a dam involved or we don’t have a schedule defined.” According to Hall, significant improvements have been made specifically in this region. In the hardest hit Richland county 109 of the original 133 closures have been reopened. “We’ve made excellent progress here in the Midlands,” says Hall. But even so the Secretary of Transportation says latent damage could still occur in the next 12-18 months.