CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – As residents recover more than a month after Hurricane Florence’s flooding, Conway is looking at how it can prevent future floods from paralyzing the city again.
Conway saw some of the worst flooding along the Waccamaw River after Hurricane Florence. It ruined homes and shut down major roads.
With a resolution passed by city council Monday, city leaders are now ready to study what could be built to try and make future flooding less destructive to the “Historic Rivertown.”
“We can’t sit idly by anymore and expect the flooding to stop,” said city administrator Adam Emrick.
Emrick says one idea to look at is creating an elevated bridge on U.S. Highway 501 Bypass.
That’s where crews built temporary barriers so the busy highway didn’t completely flood after Florence.
“There’s only a very small portion of it that’s bridged as it crosses the Waccamaw River,” Emrick said. “The rest of it is an earthen dam that the road is built up on. So all that holds back some flood water.”
Emrick says the city could look at projects to reshape the Waccamaw, either through dredging or with the old plan to build a flood diversion canal to the ocean near Little River.
Horry County Council has already asked South Carolina’s members of Congress to revisit the dry canal plan, which stalled in 2009 due to environmental concerns.
“What would affect us the most might be upstream or downstream from the city of Conway,” said Emrick. “So you have to look at the much more regional aspect of flood mitigation measures to make the biggest impact in the city.”
The city is also continuing to promote the FEMA buyout program, which started in 2016 after Hurricane Matthew, to motivate more people to move out of flood-prone areas. The city will hold an informational meeting on possible FEMA mitigation programs on Wednesday, November 14.
The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. in the McCown Auditorium at the Horry County Museum at 805 Main Street.
