Drainage problems turn Cayce yards into a swamp

CAYCE, S.C. (WIS) - The continuing rain is bringing up a lot of issues for residents in one Cayce neighborhood.

On Sunday, we saw Linda Copeland’s yard become a swamp. Copeland and her neighbor who live on M Avenue say they have experienced yard flooding for years.

Part of the problem this time around was a blocked DOT drainage pipe. After putting in requests, DOT came by Saturday and again Monday morning to clean out the area they maintain.

“The pipe here was blocked up, had a lot of vegetation in front of it and we had to open up the pipe,” Mike Bagley, with The Lexington County DOT Office said.

Bagley said the last time the pipe was serviced was 2 years ago. He adds due to funding and manpower limitations, DOT cannot do a year to year service every single drain or pipe they maintain.

Bagley says there are more situations like the one on M Avenue in the county and they need help from the public.

“We don’t have the manpower to inspect all pipes on a routine basis so, we rely heavily on our residents to let us know when these are happening,” Bagley said.

DOT funding for drainage maintenance falls under the “Maintenance and System Preservation” category.

In the last 3 state fiscal years, the budget expenses have gone from 845 million dollars to just over a billion. In 2018, Lexington county got just under 3 million of that funding pot.

Bagley says there are other issues to keep in mind:

• Population growth and drainage that cannot handle the current water flow
• Historical water movement
• Resident drainage maintenance

“When the ditches have been properly maintained and they’re not putting debris into those ditches because all of that ends up getting to our pipe and gets clogged up,” Bagley said.

Bagley says one of the best ways to get results is to call your local county DOT maintenance office.

SC DOT’s website also has a contact tab where you can send a request.

Copyright 2019 WIS. All rights reserved.