CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Conway city officials will host a public engagement session Thursday night with engineers to discuss potential solutions to flooding along the Crabtree Canal.
People who live in the area experienced flooding in three of the past five years, most recently with Hurricane Florence.
Trinity United Methodist Church, where the engagement session will be held, still sits vacant as it is rebuilt following the flood from Hurricane Florence.
The city recently received a grant from The Nature Conservancy of South Carolina. This allowed officials to hire engineers to look into possible solutions to flash flooding in the Crabtree Canal area.
“That’s the area that we’ve been able to buy out a lot of those FEMA lots and buyout properties because they have been devastated year after year and we’re trying to get those home owners out of harms way,” Taylor Newell, spokesperson for the City of Conway, said. “So those are the areas right along Long Avenue, Sherwood Drive.”
City officials want community participation at the meeting to learn what concerns residents in the area have and to hear possible solutions from engineers.
“We’re bringing in a lot of those engineers to take a look at the properties we’ve been able to purchase through the FEMA buyout,” Newell said. “So, they now sit empty lots. Could we use those lots as some kind of retention pond? Is there another way we can prevent flooding before it gets to Crabtree Canal?”
Once plans for the area are drafted, Newell told News13 they will work to gain support from legislators and secure funding for the projects.
The meeting will be held in the Cordie Page building on the Trinity United Methodist Church grounds and will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Count on News13 for updates.
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