NEWS BRIEFS: ‘Charleston is in trouble’ on flooding, report says

Staff reports | An annual federal flooding report found Charleston’s high tide flooding is increasing at an alarming rate. 

“The report is very clear: Charleston is in trouble,” Coastal Conservation League’s Betsy La Force told sister publication Statehouse Report. “If we look at the data and continue to ignore it the issue will only get worse. It’s scientific. It’s not political. It proves to the public and political leaders that climate change impacts are happening now … We have to be realistic and plan accordingly.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report included Charleston in data and graphs highlighted 21 times in the report.  Charleston saw 13 high-tide flooding events in 2019 but is projected to see only four to seven flooding events this year. The report saidCharleston could experience up to 90 high-tide flooding events by 2050. 

In other news:

Nonprofit gets recovery grant.  Tri-County Cradle to Career (TCCC) has received a $15,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation to help support its long-term COVID-19 recovery and resiliency plan.  According to a press release, TCCC will reconstitute its Community Leadership Council to focus on recovery and resiliency, and a Resource Development Task Force to develop and finalize the framework for shared recovery goals. The nonprofit also is partnering with the Institute for Child Success to examine the impact of COVID-19.

Lawsuit challenges Heritage Act. A new lawsuit that includes Jennifer Pinckney, the widow of the late Rev. and S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney, alleges South Carolina’s Heritage Act is unconstitutional. The act protects war memorials, including those to the Confederacy, viewed by many as racist. Pinckney voted against the bill in 2000. He was slain with eight other worshippers in a 2015 racist attack on Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. The lawsuit claims the act violates the constitution by placing limits on the ability to amend or repeal the law and by disregarding home rule for local government control over local matters. Read here. 

Ports Authority finished comparatively strong.  Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the S.C. Ports Authority (SCPA) finished its 2020 fiscal year at the end of June only slightly down from the previous year.  Its container terminals handled 2.32 million twenty-foot-equivalent container units, which was down just 2.8 percent from the previous year.  The first seven months were considered “very strong” for business, but the pandemic disrupted supply chains globally, which impacted business at the end of the fiscal year.  In related news, the SCPA was named one of the state’s best places to work for the second year in a row based on a state survey of employee responses.

Charleston bus project holds promise of S.C. transportation changes. Lowcountry Rapid Transit is a bus system six years in the making between Summerville and downtown Charleston. It is projected to handle 6,784 passenger trips per day. Beyond altering the way traffic flows in the Lowcountry, others expect “the state’s first real mass transit project” to have far reaching impacts on the rest of the state. Read here.

Big I-526 transportation study.  You can have your say through August 15 about what you think should happen for the future on Interstate 526 East from Virginia Avenue in North Charleston to near U.S. Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant, one of the most congested roadways in the state. Comments can be made by completing the comment form within the public information meeting webpage, mailing a comment card (download here), emailing the project team at info@i526lowcountrycorridor.com, calling the project hotline at 843.258.1135, or by scheduling an appointment at the I-526 LCC Community Office by phone at 843.258.1135.

Statehouse Report’s Lindsay Street contributed to this section. Have a comment?  Send to:  editor@charlestoncurrents.com