By Betsy Finklea
Tropical Storm Debby was one of the topics of conversation at the Dillon City Council meeting on Monday night.
Mayor Tally McColl used his mayor’s report to talk about the storm. “Anytime we have a weather event like that,” said McColl, “it really impacts our community and the City of Dillon, and it’s taken really seriously. We live in a really low-lying area, and we always are going to have flooding anytime we get that much rain in a short period of time.” McColl said there is going to be localized flooding in certain areas. He said it doesn’t matter whether they have 80-year-old pipes or new pipes only so much water can go through the pipes at one time. He said he considered themselves very lucky not to have more damage than we did. He said part of this was because the storm wasn’t quite as bad as they expected it to be, and the other part was that the City of Dillon was very well-prepared. He said City Manager Glen Wagner and the department heads did a super job, and they had everyone very prepared. With that being said, McColl said there were still homes that got some water in them, there was still some localized flooding, and any time that a single citizen has to move out of their home, then that’s one home too many.
He said with the resources the city has, water was removed as quickly as it could be removed.
McColl said he wants people to know how seriously things like this are taken. He said last Sunday, the county and the municipalities began meeting with the State Emergency Management. Then every morning at 9:00 a.m., there was a meeting at the county offices, and the plan was discussed with the State Emergency Management. He said that he never imagined how many people would be in that room. He named various organizations represented. He said they were discussing the plan of how to deal with the storm if things got really bad. Everything was planned out for every scenario out there.
McColl said they housed two swift water teams at the City Fire Department.
McColl said as a community he felt we were prepared as they could be with the resources they have.
McColl said the crews cleaned and re-cleaned storm drains to keep the water moving as it should.
McColl said he really appreciates everyone’s patience, everyone’s help, and everyone’s prayers. He said by the grace of God we were spared what could have been a very devastating event if we had more rain.
McColl said the city employees worked hard, and if you see them around to please thank them.
McColl said in 2016 and 2018, the Office of Resilience helped them with a plan of projects in order of importance, but the cost is in the millions of dollars.
City Manager Glen Wagner said the Office of Resilience awarded the city $4 million a year and a half ago. It increased to $8 million about six months ago. This has no match. The engineering firm that the state is using has a cost analysis that is closer to $14 million. That has not been bidded out. It is in the final stages before being bidded out. Wagner said they have a meeting on Thursday to go over this.
Wagner said he and Burt rode around again Monday to look around. He said the Lucius Road area back up to South Fourth Avenue worked well. He said that area drained well. He said he was totally shocked.
On Thursday around 5:30 a.m., he said there were about 24 flooded road areas. He said by that afternoon a great deal had receded. On Friday, they started hitting areas that were holding water that had not receded. He said one of those areas was at 11th and Calhoun behind City Hall. He said they spent 12-16 hours pumping water form that area with a three inch pump. Eventually it worked to some degree. That area is so close to a large canal, Wagner said, it would benefit a whole lot if they could purchase or rent dewatering bypass pumps that can pump up to 1,000 gallons a minute. He said if there are areas with easy access to an outfall they might could alleviate the water with the pumps. He said they may have to close some roads or cross some property, but if they could do something like that in issues they have problems with, that they could help and possibly save some homes. It would have to be done when conditions are safe. Prices for a four-inch is $100,000, and a 14-inch pump is $200,000. He said the dewatering bypass pumps is something to look at. He thinks the city could suffice with two pumps. He is going to look at prices for rentals. He said this was another way to help protect citizens and their property.
Wagner said there was eight and a half inches of rain from Tuesday to Thursday. Five inches came in a six hour time period. He also talked about mosquitoes. See related article.
