As of this afternoon it looks like we are past the “emergency phase” of our hurricane recovery. The over washes have been stopped by our contractors night and day efforts to build enough dune in the low areas of Springs street for us to feel comfortable we will not have a total breach, and probably not another dune breach. The King tides are also subsiding and the Myrtle Avenue street flooding is nearly over for this month. However, there will be King tides again November 13 through 18, at about the same times of the mornings as the October tides, and about at the same height!Our Contractor, Goodson Construction, is making good progress on building dunes on the south end of the island below Hazard Street. By Saturday there should be dunes along that entire beach front, but they will be strengthened and sloped before we begin moving north of Hazard. The plan is to recreate the same dune plan that the Town accomplished after Joaquin. Our beach engineers believe that the presence of the dunes we built in March reduced the possible damages to structures as well as the remaining dunes. So that was a worthwhile effort. We received the necessary Corps of Engineers permits for the area above Hazard Street to the north end this morning. The Corps and DHEC/OCRM are cooperating wonderfully with the Town, recognizing the extent of the emergency, and the possible damages to our Town and our property owners! Congressman Rice sent his representative to Pawleys and he spent the day viewing the extent of the damages (which surprised him), and working with us on communications with FEMA and the Corps of Engineers.
The Towns Insurance Carrier will not allow us to indemnify our road and beach contractor for working under houses to move the beach that is under most of the houses on Spring Street. Those owners will have to hire their own contractors. We have provided access to all houses on Springs from the street. Thanks for not moving that sand until we got dunes up on the beach, as that stopped the high tides from breaching in several areas. If your contractors can move the sand to the beach in front of your house, and against the new dune, that would be a help. If not, please pile it in one place near, but not on, the street and our contractor will use it to help with the general dune building.
The Contractors with SCDOT are supposed to begin picking up roadside debris this week in Georgetown County, starting with vegetative material, which must be separated to be picked up (see the first update for more information). This material will be mulched, and anything other than vegetation in a pile will just slow everything up! Please don’t pile debris on the streets as that is a safety issue.
Our Contractors will be collecting beach debris from the beach starting next week. Any lumber or building materials loose on the beach, or loose and propped up on a dune scarp, will be picked up and disposed of. Any materials or debris on a dune and off of the beach face will not be picked up. Any part of a boardwalk or steps damaged, but still attached or leaning on the boardwalk will not be removed. Any part of a boardwalk which damaged, but in one piece and detached from the rest of the boardwalk, will not be removed.
It is probably not realistic to think that we will be able to renovate and return to the “historic” Town Hall. It had 3½ feet of water in it and was “trashed.” Fortunately we followed our protocol and moved all critical documents from Town Hall to a U-Haul trailer, which we put in a school district maintenance shed. Since Tuesday after the storm the Town Hall has been in a small construction trailer located on the Pawleys Park, with a port-a-let across the street, and without phone or internet service or space to move documents where they can be accessed. We have now been promised Internet access and phone service by this weekend. A temporary Town Hall is at the top of our priority list while deliberative decisions are being made about a permanent Town Hall.
Because of all the above, the Town Council has cancelled the Turtle Strut race scheduled for November 12, 2016.
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR PATIENCE!