BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. — Weeks after flood waters wreaked havoc on Batesburg-Leesville roads, homes and businesses, Lexington County is getting residents relief.
They're doing it through mitigation grants.
This is the type of FEMA funding the state and Lexington County's emergency management department will be applying for come this fall following flooding in Batesburg-Leesville.
"That means we're going to look at the areas that were damaged the most to see if there's any type of mitigation projects that we may be able to put in or repair that will prevent the flooding from happening again," Shehow said.
Tammy Shehow is one of Lexington County's emergency managers.
She explains this is their option as of now since the county did not meet the $1.7M Lexington County damage threshold for standard FEMA dollars.
"15 inches of rain was dropped in a very short period, on top of the rain that had already happened before with the ground being saturated, it was just inevitable. It couldn't soak it up. Things flooded," Shehow said.
Blake Lewis works at Rush Clothing Company in downtown Leesville.
She tells News19 whenever it rains more than a few minutes, water comes through the back of the store and can ruin clothing inventory and supplies. She explains it also diverts customers because parts of the parking lot flood.
"I'm sure I'm not the only employee that has experienced water entering their building on the street, so I think getting money that we could use to fix our infrastructure and where that doesn't occur anymore would be a huge help to not only our business, but down our entire street," Lewis said.
The county tells News19 these mitigation grants could update drainage systems and help move water by diverting or changing pathways.
She said eight homes had minor damage, three had major, and the water impacted six businesses.
Currently, Shehow is working to gather all the documentation needed for the fall application.
The Lexington County emergency manager tells News19 that if these mitigation grants aren't received this year, they can be applied for again next year.
Contact Lexington County's emergency management department if you had flooding in Batesburg-Leesville and haven't heard from them yet.