ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — Drainage studies are being done throughout Orangeburg County. This comes as residents complain of dealing with flooding issues every time it rains.
One Orangeburg resident says she's been dealing with flooding issues at her home for 10 years.
“When we have a really hard rain and it comes quick, this whole front yard floods really bad from the street. It comes down," said resident Jamie Young.
She recalls, sometimes the rain gets so bad, it floods parts of her home.
“There’s no drainage ditches out here, it floods the front yard, looks like a pond. Then it rushes down our driveway like a river," said Young.
There is a county-wide drainage study being done through the South Carolina Office of Resilience with a $439,000 grant. These studies are aimed to identify areas that experience drainage issues.
Once the areas are identified, they will be ranked for construction projects.
“Right now, Orangeburg has some issues with its drainage, they have a lot of flat areas at the lower end of the county. The county rolls and there’s some old infrastructure that needs to be updated," said Kevin Gantt of Carolina Transportation Engineers and Associates.
He says the need for these studies have become clear after three tropical storms devastated parts of Orangeburg County. These include Hurricane Joaquin, Hurricane Matthew, and Hurricane Florence.
“It’s really important for us to identify the areas so that we can go out and perform the studies. So if we don’t hear their voice, we don’t have the opportunity to include them in the study," said Gantt.
The first meeting takes place Tuesday at the Orangeburg County Library from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. A second meeting is being held on September 6 at Lake Marion High School from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.