CHARLESTON, S.C. — The city of Charleston is working to make two West Ashley areas safer from flooding.
Recently, the state gave millions of dollars to the Windermere Drainage Improvement Project and the DuPont-Wappoo Watershed Master Plan. The city got two $1 million funds, one for each project, thanks to State Rep. Leon Stavrinakis.
Mayor William Cogswell said that the job can’t be finished without this extra money.
The mayor said, “We need to learn how to live with water.” “We’ve also got to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power, and work with the state to solve these problems.”
It is important for the city, according to Mayor Cogswell, to fix the flooding in both of these areas.
“This problem has been going on for a long time,” he said. “Early this year, our main goal was to get shovels in the ground and fix people’s everyday flooding problems, and this will do just that.”
There are many years that Deen Stratford has lived in the Windermere area. It can flood badly even after just one day of rain, she said. Big storms are what she fears the most.
“We had a huge storm right after I moved in, and my garage was flooded for almost a foot.” “Thank goodness we live above the garage, so the only thing that’s flooding is the garage,” Stratford said.
Stratford says that her street hasn’t flooded as much in the last two years, but she still gets ready for the worst when a storm comes through.
It’s a race from the front as we look out at the streets to see if it’s coming from that direction. “Then we’ll check the back to see if the greenway ditch is full,” she said.
Mayor Cogswell said that the city is still trying to get the Dupont-Wappoo project about $4 million more. The work in Stratford’s neighborhood is almost done.
The mayor said that this state grant is the last bit of money needed to finish the Windermere drainage project.
“That’s kind of going on right now, under construction if you will,” he said. “It should have a pretty big effect.”