A Reedy River Renaissance: How Greenville County Is Transforming Flood Risk into Community Assets

This presentation outlines the story of two neighborhoods with homes that experienced frequent flooding and how Greenville County mitigated this issue through its flood buy-out program more than a decade ago. Fast forward to today: through a little ingenuity and gracious funding through South Carolina Office of Resilience, the County has secured, designed, permitted, and, at the time of this presentation, will be knee-deep in the construction (or done) with these 2 stream restoration and riparian reclamation projects along these flood buyout properties and will provide not one, but two, interesting case studies for one municipalities may approach flooding and the reestablishment of riparian buffers in their communities.

Full Abstract: In the early 2000’s, Greenville County developed a detailed flood model of the Reedy River watershed. As part of this effort an alternatives analysis was performed. The densely developed nature of the watershed inhibited typical capital improvement solutions and a benefit-cost analyses demonstrated that, in many cases, structure acquisition and razing of homes was the best mitigation alternative. Since that time, the County has established a robust buy-out program and has identified, purchased, and removed more than 100 frequently-flooding homes from floodplains throughout their jurisdiction. As part of this effort, and the focus of this case study, 14 different homes in two distinct neighborhoods were determined to be at risk of flooding during less than a 25-year storm. Many of the properties were contiguous and the resulting open space became an amenity for other residents in these neighborhoods.
Nearly two decades after the initial modeling effort, the focus has changed. With most of it’s residents out of harms way the County is reimagining these properties with water quality and ecological diversity in mind. As part of this effort, the County recently submitted a grant application to the South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR), prioritizing stream restoration and riparian reestablishment projects on the acquired properties.
The County was awarded $1.5 million in funding to stabilize the stream banks and reduce migration of sediment/nutrients downstream. Design plans for stream enhancement projects were recently completed with anticipated construction this fall. Although both neighborhoods previously experienced recurring residential flood damages, these areas are now community amenities that further provide water quality benefits downstream.