Flooding is one of the Mayor's highest priorities. According to data collected at the US Customs House and analyzed by NOAA, almost half of the total amount of SLR in the last 100 years has occurred in the last 20 years. With the acceleration of SLR, the City has experienced more days of tidal flooding and more frequent 'rain bombs' that overwhelm our drainage system.
A vulnerability study completed in 2019, revealed that 70% of all residential properties in the city are highly vulnerable and at risk to flooding and 80% of the city’s annual sales volume and jobs/employees are highly vulnerable. FloodStat brings all of the City's stakeholders together to ensure we are moving the needle on the most important and impactful work around SLR and flooding.
FloodStat meets the first Thursday of most months, alternating between internal staff meetings and public meetings where departments share the impact of their work.
To see the latest data on tidal flooding in Charleston, visit our dashboard of Local Tide Trends and for real time flooding information, visit the City's TideEye site.
To reduce future flooding losses, the City of Charleston requires that new construction, substantial improvements, and repair to substantial damage for properties in the Spcial Flood Hazard Areas comply with Floodplain Management regulations, including that the lowest floor must be elevated to at least the base flood elevation plus Freeboard. A determination of "substantial improvement" or "repair of substantial damage" is made when the five-year cumulative cost of improvements or repairs equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the building.
The SI/SD calculator is an advanced search/dashboard to ensure that permits have addresses, parcels, georules run, zones and flood zone information within individual permits (for permits from 2021 onward.) This makes sure building permits all have the necessary information to be able to be linked to a property so that permits are not missed during review of Substantial Improvement/Substantial Damage, and a weekly report is monitored for any new problems.
This evaluation is essential for not only substantial improvement record keeping and many other permit automation processes, but also shows the city's commitment to prevent of damage and loss of life due to flooding.
For more information on Substantial Improvement requirements and Special Hazard Flood Areas, please view this page on Flooodplain Development.
We all know flooding is a problem and that it is only getting worse. Did you also know that flood waters can include debris and bacteria that hurt aquatic life in our marshes, creeks and oceans? Luckily, there are steps we can take to reduce our flooding AND protect our water quality, such as participating in the Adopt-a-Drain program.
A drain can be cleared one day, and blocked by leaves or litter the next. With almost 10,000 city owned inlets, crews are in a never-ending battle to keep the storm drains clean.
The Adopt-a-Drain program allows local citizens and organizations to "adopt" a storm drain to help protect their nearby drains from unwanted debris, pollutants or blockages and to ensure neighborhood drainage systems work as efficiently as possible.
Visit https://www.charleston-sc.gov/Adopt-A-Drain to adopt a drain today.
We can all contribute to making a bigger impact on reducing flooding if we utilize both public and private spaces to capture and infiltrate rainwater. Charleston Rainproof is about the whole community working together towards a common goal of addressing increasingly frequent and heavy rainfall. Every drop counts and every bit helps to minimize flooding and ensure neighborhood drainage systems work as efficiently as possible! Visit www.charleston-sc.gov/Rainproof to get involved today!