How will rising seas, harsher storms affect Beaufort? Hear what experts say
The authors of a study that says as much as 30 percent of Beaufort could be under water in the coming decades due to rising seas will tell city leaders Tuesday how they crafted the report about flooding risks.
The report by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and College of Charleston used tidal flooding models with anticipated sea-level rise and rainfall scenarios specific to the city to assess potential flooding effects on public areas, buildings and businesses. The team will present its findings during a City Council workshop at City Hall at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Local officials have said the report will help as they plan how to protect flood-prone areas in the historic city. For Beaufort, which agreed to borrow $6 million as part of an initial project to fortify some of its most vulnerable areas, the report is a reminder of the decisions city officials will have to grapple with about which solutions to implement and the ongoing costs to come.
Those topics could include how to prevent future flooding, ways to protect historic structures and whether property owners in certain areas that repeatedly flood should be bought out.
The Point neighborhood, with some of the city’s most historic and recognizable homes, downtown businesses and some of the most populated residential areas south of downtown are most threatened by the prospect of increased flooding, the report models suggest.
“Managing sea-level rise is not going to take one solution, because there are different places, different impacts, different causes of excessive water,” Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said after the report was released. “But it is really accepting the reality that it exists and working to build flexible solutions that adjust to make sure we try to stay ahead of the problem rather than get behind it, as we have been.”
The report identified areas of the city that would be most susceptible to heavier rains and higher sea levels, including the Point, the core business district downtown and neighborhoods in the Mossy Oaks area.
Models show about 10 percent of the city currently floods with average high water, areas which include only marsh and the edges of property. With 6 feet of sea-level rise — at the moderate-high end of scenarios by 2100 in the report’s data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — 30 percent of the city would be flooded.
Eighty percent of the Point would be under water with 6 feet of rise, according to the models.
NOAA’s projections range from less than 1/3 of a foot rise by 2100, based on the lowest historical trends, to an extreme of 10.57 feet during the same period, based on the possibility of elevated greenhouse gases and melting ice.
“Because of the significant uncertainties about SLR projections in later decades and the large-scale consequences associated with the extreme, but impossible-to-rule-out outcomes, those scenarios are also included,” the report said.
Current work in Mossy Oaks represents only a fraction of the $15 million in current needs throughout the city.
City officials are seeking permits to begin numerous drainage projects throughout Mossy Oaks, an area adjacent to Battery Creek that has been plagued by flooding during harsh storms in recent years. The work, divided into two larger areas to the north and south, will include larger pipes under numerous roads, re-engineering drainage ditches, adding tidal gates and wider pipes on the Spanish Moss Trail and sheetpile walls adjacent to the trail, according to documents submitted with the permit applications.
State environmental regulators are accepting public comments on the proposed work through Feb. 10.
