Pawleys Island Flood Mitigation Project
Summer 2024 Update
The Town of Pawleys Island is continuing to make progress on flood mitigation. In May of 2024, Town Council approved the selection of Seamon Whiteside, an engineering firm from Mount Pleasant, to prepare a comprehensive engineering study that will serve as a blueprint for mitigating our roadside flooding issue from tip to tip of the island. The study will be conducted throughout the summer and fall of 2024 with the final Master Drainage Improvement Plan presentation expected in early 2025. Information provided by property owners will, again, be a critical part of the data input. The Plan will result in flooding solution strategies, as well as recommendations to fund those strategies, as the Town then looks to proceed towards the implementation of recommended solutions. This is just another step forward in support of the strategic objective of mitigating King Tide flooding. Since 2019 we have taken several preliminary actions to begin moving the needle and we continue to make progress. The first critical step was the completion of the Town's Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan. That plan enabled us to secure the current grant of the ongoing Master Drainage Plan. Stay tuned to this page to monitor project progress and find out about engagement opportunities.
Below is a link to a survey to report any flood events on the island to assist with data collection for the Town’s Master Drainage Plan. Please report only one flooding event per survey. If you wish to report multiple flooding events or events in several locations, please complete multiple surveys. Basic information will be required such as the location, time, and severity of the flood and if any damage occurred to property during the event. The survey can be accessed via the link below:
January 2025 Update
Seamon Whiteside conducted a comprehensive field survey of the entire island this Fall. This resulted in a complete inventory of the existing stormwater infrastructure on the island. In their analysis, they mapped the location of each infrastructure component, made notes on the age/size/materials of each pipe, and provided a condition assessment highlighting pipes that are damaged, blocked, or inaccessible for routine maintenance. A copy of the condition assessment inventory is available on the following link:
The condition assessment inventory was utilized as the framework for the development of a model that evaluates potential flood conditions based on 16 different scenarios. The variables that are factored into each scenario include tide stage, rainfall severity, and projected sea level rise on a 50-year timescale. Preliminary existing conditions model results can be viewed on the following website. The website is very user-friendly allowing you to toggle between each of the 16 modeled scenarios fairly easily.
Ryne Phillips and Aaron Akin, the project leads from Seamon Whiteside, provided an overview to Town Council at their January 13th meeting. It was a great presentation and discussion. The Town Council meeting was recorded and the segment with their presentation can be found on the following link:
A copy of their PowerPoint slides can be accessed at the following link:
If you have any questions, please let me know and I will make sure you get the additional information you need. Seamon Whiteside is in the process of developing infrastructure improvement recommendations based on this detailed analysis that they have developed. The final report is on track for completion by June 2025. This will be a critically important tool as we make progress on resolving issues in the most flood-prone areas of the island. Updates will continue to be provided on this website as this project moves forward.
Take a look!
The Town of Pawleys Island is proud to announce that a a Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan was crafted and approved. The plan can be found by clicking the link below.
Please submit flood photos to help us track vulnerable areas on the Island.
For questions or concerns please contact info@townofpi.com or call us (843)237-1698