Beaufort and Port Royal area businesses were flooding. Then, crews found a hubcap
Hubcaps wedged in an underground storm drain pipe — not one, but two — were to blame for recent flooding problems off Ribaut Road near the Beaufort-Port Royal boundary. Public works officials weren’t that surprised.
“You get all kinds of different stuff in there you wouldn’t think would be down there,” said Nate Farrow, the City of Beaufort’s Public Works Director.
Acting like a stopper in a bathtub, the hubcaps jammed a storm drainage pipe, Farrow said. City officials say the hubcaps are an example of how foreign objects — some of them unusual — end up in the storm drains and cause major problems on the surface that can require tens of thousands of dollars to repair.
Recently, Eadie’s Constrution Inc. of Ridgeville, a contractor hired by the city, stuck a camera into a 24-inch storm drain pipe running along the east side of Ribaut Road near Johnny Morrall Circle. The problem was discovered 125 feet into the pipe: Two hubcaps stuck sideways in tree roots that had penetrated the conduit.
The blockage had been causing flooding of United Way, Burger King and Mr. Seafood properties near the Beaufort-Port Royal boundary, Farrow said.
“You never know what you’re going to find inside the pipes,” said Farrow, who’s seen it all inside storm drain pipes, including basketballs and soccer balls.
How could a hubcap get into the storm drain?
Four-foot long box culverts are located on the sides of city streets. That’s where stormwater drains. A hubcap could have popped off in a car accident, Farrow speculated, or maybe somebody drove a car onto a curb, with a storm washing them underground.
“Then they can float and be pushed down the pipe and they can wedge sideways,” Farrow said.
Neal Pugliese, who handles special projects for the city of Beaufort, said people tend to treat storm drains like they are trash receptacles, which can be an expensive mistake for taxpayers.
“Something as small and diminutive as a hubcap can cause people to experience catastrophic flooding,” Pugliese said. “It’s the little things that add up to be big things. We all need to be neighborly and understand the impact of what we do.”
Construction materials and yard waste are two additional items often found inside storm drains. The city tries to work with construction and landscaping companies before cracking down on these offenses but will if there are repeated issues, Pugliese added. That goes for residents, too.
“So when you see people blowing debris down the road and they point it to a drainage basin that’s the wrong answer,” Pugliese said.
Eadies specializes in extracting debris, blasting water into the pipes and vacuuming out the debris. Working at night, it spent three days cleaning out the pipe near Ribaut Road/Johnny Morrall Circle. It still has work to do east of the intersection, extending to the Beaufort River.
The blockage caused by the hubcaps is “case exemplar” of the importance of cooperation between Beaufort, Port Royal, Beaufort County and the state in maintaining and cleaning storm drainage systems that meander across jurisdictions, Pugliese said.
Preventative maintenance important
For a city, Pugliese said, failing to complete preventative maintenance on city storm drainage system, like the recently completed $6.5 million Mossy Oaks project, is like a car owner failing to take care of a Lamborghini.
“It’s one thing to put in a beautiful gold-plated system, but that storm drainage system is nothing if it is not maintained,” he said.
When the city worked on the Mossy Oaks storm drainage project, Pugliese said, workers filled 40-yard containers with tables, chairs, axles, tires and hand tools. Those items were pulled from drainage ditches.
