Here are the number of ways that Interstate 526 helped the Charleston area avert flooding from the unprecedented dousing it got from Tropical Storm Debby: Zero.
Nada. Zilch. Nil.
And here are the number of ways that spending $2.3 billion to extend Interstate 526 will put us in a better position to deal with the next unprecedented flooding event from a future storm to be named (get ready for it): Zero.
Nada. Zilch. Nil. Goose eggs.
Charleston County Council wants you to approve a $5.4 billion half-penny sales tax referendum in November to allow it to lengthen I-526 while the county has pressing, real needs to harden infrastructure and do smart things to protect our homes and property from future flooding.
You should vote no on the referendum and send recalcitrant council members the clear message that there are better, smarter and clearer ways to use tax dollars for roads, parks and the kinds of investments that will defend property from rising waters.
Investments, for example, could be tax credits to allow property owners to improve the resilience of their property, as outlined in a recent guide released by the Preservation Society of Charleston.
“All of these things that individuals can do that really increase the resilience of their homes also increase the resilience of their communities,” the city of Charleston’s former resilience officer, Dale Morris, told the City Paper last month. “That makes the government’s job a bit easier. If and when a disaster strikes, more resilient areas are likely to need less assistance and intervention post-event.”
Investments could create more public rain gardens to absorb water, especially in flood-prone areas. It could restore marshes in places that have been overbuilt. Governments could require new properties to install rainwater storage on roofs of new buildings.
On an even larger scale, Charleston County could invest in building a better drainage network and big retention ponds. It could take more lessons from New Orleans and Amsterdam to devise innovative ways to channel, divert and capture water. It could bring zoning ordinances into the modern age by updating them for the first time since the 1960s. And it could build barriers, when needed.
Finally, the county, in coordination with its cities, could become the state’s leader in coordinating a regional flood control plan to develop regional resilience capabilities. As local water advocate Susan Lyons said earlier this year, “Water knows no boundaries, and all of us are bound to have serious problems – if the predictions come true about sea level rise and continuing global warming. We should all be talking to each other.”
Let’s get to work on something positive, not a tired, worn road extension that’s not going to do a damned thing – zero, nada, zilch, zil, goose eggs – the next time it floods.
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