Why flooding still plagues Aiken County neighbors on rural road
WAGENER, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - More than a year after we learned of people struggling with flooding, sitting rainwater and washouts, it’s still such a problem that even emergency vehicles can’t get to them at times.
Aiken County wants to fix the flooding off Cedar Creek Road, but some neighbors aren’t cooperating, officials said.
We visited there last year, and then it’s been a problem again this week with heavy rain.
After years of dealing with the issue of white-water rapids gushing through their yards and driveways, Aiken County officials say they’re ready to move forward on a fix.
The problem is they say their hands are tied until everyone wants to move forward.
“It looks like a river. I mean, it really does,” said Thomas Swartz, who lives on Cedar Creek Road.
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“A lot of times that it will take the whole road have been running, six, eight, ten inches deep,” he said.
On Cedar Creek Road, yards become ponds and roads become rushing rivers.
For years, people like Swartz have dealt with these problems after it rains.
“Every time the clouds build up, we kind of get anxious because, you know, we know what’s going to happen,” said Swartz.
And apparently, so does the county.
“It’s a permanent fixture. The county pretty much just leaves the road closed sign sitting here so that it can be slid over to block the road,” said Swartz.
We followed Swartz to his farm down the road, getting a look at the now-fixed road.
“It’s ruined a lot of our property,” he said.
His family sells hay — something he says is being drowned.
“That impacts our income. And, you know, this right here. You don’t lose a half-acre right there,” said Swartz.
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Aiken County told us last year it had spent $30,000 to $50,000 trying to solve the issue, along with the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
Officials say the only solution is to pave the road and install the proper drainage systems.
We asked County Brian Sanders about it Friday.
Aiken County wants to do the project and has funding in place, he said.
It’ll cost $800,000, coming from state funds that are set aside for Aiken County road and drainage projects.
“This road is at the top of our list of concerns but unfortunately we have two land owners that will not cooperate in the only viable solution we have,” he said. “We have a plan to install drainage and then pave the road from Coleman Bridge Road to the dam but we have to have rights-of-way on both sides of the road to make this happen.”
To date, only one of the three owners of property along the stretch is willing to provide the needed right-of-way, Sanders said.
“We continue to work with the two holdouts in an effort to get the needed rights-of-way,” he said.
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