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Ongoing coverage of South Carolina's recovery from the flooding of 2015.What had been Lindsay Langdale's Columbia home October 3, 2015 was a flooded ruin the next day.This coverage is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In October of 2015, South Carolina received rainfall in unprecedented amounts over just a few days time. By the time the rain began to slacken, the National Weather Service reported that the event had dumped more than two feet of water on the state. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the subsequent flooding was the worst in 75 years.

City of Cayce: Phase 2 is Our Main Priority

Locked gate at Phase 2 of Cayce Riverwalk
Vincent Kolb-Lugo
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SC Public Radio

In 2002, the City of Cayce started work on its river walk project. Through the years, the greenway has grown to eight miles, one of the largest within any municipal limits in the Midlands.  A portion of the walk, Phase 2, has been closed since the October flood. Special Projects and Grants Coordinator Tara Greenwood said getting Phase 2 re-opened to the public is the city’ top priority.

Greenwood said many residents use the walk to get from their neighborhood to the main corridor of the city.

“You can take that from the Riverland Subdivision. [Residents] take our greenway up to the Blossom Street Bridge and go into the main part of either Columbia or to Cayce.”

All four phases of the river walk were damaged during the historic rain event and flood. The city’s in-house parks department was able to clean and repair what they could. Greenwood said 30 trees and 500 tons of silt were removed. The department also back-filled a four by 40-foot-long area that washed away.

“There is a lot of work there. Our main goal is to get construction started in the fall of this year,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood said she can’t speak to the timeliness of the construction, because there are still many issues and questions that can’t be answered at this time.

“We have put out an RFQ (Request for Quotation) for qualified landscape and architectural engineering firms that will come in and actually do all the soil stabilization tests that need to be done,” Greenwood said. She added, the results from those tests will allow engineers to map out a plan.

The final price tag for the repairs is also something Greenwood can’t give a specific answer to. But she said the city has a few options to utilize to pay for the project. Those options include using grant funding, TIF, or tax increment financing, as well as hospitality tax funds.

Thelisha Eaddy is the local Morning Edition host for South Carolina Public Radio.