Residents affected by the historic October 2015 floods are invited to offer input that will help Richland County plan for future natural disasters.

The Community Input and Recovery Project is a series of six meetings to gather feedback from residents. The meetings are scheduled Jan. 19-23 throughout Richland County. Public input from the meetings will be used to compile a technical report that is specific to the County and will include strategies for mitigating – or lessening – the effects of future flooding.

The community input meetings will include interactive mapping stations, questionnaires and opportunities for residents to submit comments and share information about their experiences. Residents are encouraged to bring photographs and other information to document recent, as well as recurrent, flooding in their communities

Information from these meetings will be used to develop a flood mitigation study of Lower Richland and the Gills Creek and Stoop Creek watersheds. Input from residents is crucial to helping County officials move forward with planning.

Lower Richland and communities in the two watersheds are considered priority areas. The Gills Creek Watershed is the main watershed flowing through the city of Columbia. The Stoop Creek Watershed is primarily in the St. Andrews area, in the northwest part of the County.

County staffers are already collecting high water mark and debris data in these areas to develop flood mitigation plans.

Representatives of Tetra Tech, the County’s disaster recovery contractor, will lead the community meetings and compile data to supplement information provided by County staff to help build an inventory of where flooding occurred and the extent of damage suffered by residents, businesses and property owners.

Meetings for the Community Input and Recovery Project will be held as follows:

5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 19
St. Andrews Park
920 Beatty Road, Columbia

12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 20
Gadsden Park
1668 Goodwin Circle, Gadsden

4 p.m.-6 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 20
Garners Ferry Adult Activity Center
8620 Garners Ferry Road, Hopkins

12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 21
Bluff Road Park
148 Carswell Drive,  Columbia

5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
Thursday Jan. 21
Trenholm Park
3900 Covenant Road, Columbia

12 p.m.-2 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 23
Eastover Park
1031 Main St., Eastover

For more information, email floodmitigation@tetratech.com.