SOCASTEE, SC (WBTW) – Horry County helped Hurricane Florence victims recovering Wednesday almost three months after the storm hit.
Residents of Rosewood Estates say flooding events like Hurricanes Matthew and Florence are happening too often.
“I’ve owned my property for 33 years,” said Dan Kingsmore, who lives in Rosewood. “We’ve had eight floods. For the last two years, we’ve had four floods.”
With Florence recovery continuing into 2019, Horry County is trying to help. The county held a community meeting at Socastee High School on Wednesday night.
Flooding victims could get information from several agencies like FEMA or DHEC, along with some still in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee like the Small Business Administration.
“Everyone in the area that was affected by the storm, we’re here to assist in the form of low-interest rate loans,” said Martavious Wimberly, an SBA spokesperson working in Florence.
Residents also talked to several heads of county departments to find out what will be done before the next major storm hits. Socastee would be in the proposed Horry County resiliency plan. It would include a FEMA buyout program, like the one in Conway, for unincorporated parts of the county.
It may also include some other projects.
“We saw that our infrastructure was inadequate,” said assistant county administrator Justin Powell. “We saw that we had a number of bridge overtoppings that cut off eastern Horry County from western Horry County.”
Those living near the Intracoastal Waterway say they want the county to do as much as it can to avoid future storms from be as destructive as Florence, or worse.
“The more they develop, the less land there is to absorb the water,” said Dennis Tate of Forestbrook.
“Something’s changed and we’re trying to better understand what’s going on,” Kingsmore said.
The community resiliency plan will be designed by the county, a consultant and public input, along with county council approval.
