Water Damage Restoration in Pinopolis, SC

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Dam failures across South Carolina last month caused catastrophic damage, raising new questions for many Lowcountry residents.

A total of 36 dams statewide breached during last month's historic rainfall. Homes and businesses flooded, roads washed out, and many bridges weren't safe for travel.

In the aftermath come new worries: How many dams are here, how did we escape the damage and could the same thing happen to us?

Forty miles of dams and dikes surround Santee Cooper's Lakes Marion and Moultrie. It is Mark Carter's job to oversee them, keeping an eye on the inspection process and the weather, not just in the Lowcountry, but also in the upstate and parts of North Carolina. Rainfall there flows into Lake Marion.

"The lake system has a 15-thousand square mile drainage basin," Carter said as he took our crew to the Pinopolis Dam in Berkeley County.

To prevent catastrophe such as an overflow or dam break, water is released through the Santee Spillway to the Santee River. Carter said no water is routed toward Charleston because of the Pinopolis Dam.

"The potential for flooding on the Cooper River is almost non-existent because we can't release a significant amount of water here," Carter said.

Santee Cooper engineers inspect at least monthly. They've used stakes to mark some shallow slides caused by the historic rainfall.

"It saturated the soil and that water and that added weight causes the soil and water to slide down the hill," he said. Carter calls it maintenance, and repairs will prevent further erosion. "And grass can provide protective cover."

A backup dam built in the 1980s below the primary dam built in the 1940s serves as an earthquake safety measure. But no threat, he believes, is greater than another.

"Because the consequences of failure are very severe, and so from our point of view we try to look at all the threats and address them appropriately," Carter said.

There are three levels of inspections: year round by company engineers, an independent inspector every five years, and a yearly inspection by the federal government. While that federal report is classified, a government spokeswoman said the 2015 inspection in June found "No outstanding dam safety issues."

Santee Cooper plans to share its Emergency Action Plan for Dam Failure to residents living on the Santee River floodplain below the Santee North Dam. The company will explain what to do in the event of a dam failure at Sampit Elementary School in Georgetown on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

While that may ease your mind, don't relax just yet. There are more than two thousand dams regulated by our state, 86 percent of them are privately owned and maintained. They look more like grassy dikes than dams.

One of them is in a Moncks Corner subdivision, and at least one person who lives there said there is no dam in his neighborhood.

But the state government says there is, and considers it to have significant hazard potential. A high-hazard dam is only feet away from a major highway thousands of you travel every day. It is one of several state-regulated dams in the Lowcountry many of you may not know exist.

The Lowcountry is home to seven state regulated dams. Three are in Dorchester County and four are in Berkeley County.

One is in a Moncks Corner subdivision, but some people who live there have no idea it's classified C-2, having significant hazard potential.

The Moss Grove Plantation Dam was in "fair" condition when inspected last December, with the inspector noting it had been "neglected."

The Homeowner's Association president said bids are in hand to clear the vegetation, as outlined in a post-inspection letter. He said the dam had no issues during the record rainfall.

Whitesville Rural Fire Department Chief Timothy Stephenson said when most of us think of a dam breach, we think of catastrophic failure.

"But that's not what usually happens," he said. "Although we did have some levies or dikes that failed, they didn't actually fail at the dam or dike portion itself. They failed because of the erosion from the overflow of the water."

He said that happened at Compton Road, which runs atop Crystal Springs Lake Dam. While the dam didn't break during the historic rainfall in October, "The amount of rain overwhelmed the lake," Stephenson said. And through erosion, a water main broke, closing the road.

The Crystal Springs Lake Dam passed state inspection in November of 2014 with a satisfactory rating. That dam, the Moss Grove Plantation Dam and the Lake Hastie Dam in Pimlico in Berkeley County are classified C-2, having significant hazard potential.

A dam considered to have high hazard potential, classified as C-1, is just off Highway 61 at Middleton. Traveling Highway 61 daily are 7,700 vehicles according to the South Carolina Department of Transportation. A dam break could flood, even take out the highway, and that's why the Middleton Lake Dam carries the highest hazard rating.

"We take the responsibility seriously and DHEC does as well," Middleton's Colby Hollifield said.

DHEC, the Department of Health and Environmental Control oversaw construction of the Middleton Dam when it was rebuilt about ten years ago.

"We packed it with clay every six inches," Middleton's Josh Hair said. "It is a very solid wall of clay."

DHEC inspects it.

"They look for rodents, they look for large trees growing, so we keep it all mowed down, we like to have grass," Hollifield said.

A watershed drains into the lake from a mile around.

Video of the swamp during the historic rainfall showed water rushing toward Middleton Lake during October's deluge. Hollifield said the Friday before the storm, DHEC notified them to lower the lake level, if possible.

"So we opened the spill gates, we opened that up," he said.

Through the spill gates, the flow of water is controlled. The lake water is piped under the dam to the other side. Hollifield said during the storm, DHEC called constantly and he could hear conversations on the other end of the line.

"They almost didn't believe that it was working as well as it was, and so they kept asking, are you out there, have you seen it, how close is it to going over 61?" he said. No water flooded the highway there: the Middleton Lake Dam held. "It worked as designed here for sure," he said.

National dam experts say our state needs to fund more inspectors. While it costs money, they point out, the consequences of dam failure are far more expensive. Of the 36 dams that breached last month, 31 are regulated by the state, one by the federal government, and four others were unregulated dams.

For information on dam safety, check out the website www.livingneardams.org.

Copyright 2015 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Santee Cooper on Monday hammered the final nail into the coffin of the failed, $9 billion V.C. Summer nuclear construction project.

The state-owned utility’s board unanimously voted to cooperate with SCE&G’s efforts to give up the project’s hard-won federal license to build two more nuclear reactors at the massive Fairfield County site. The move makes it a virtual impossibility that the project ever could be finished.

Instead, Santee Cooper will work to sell or scrap the trove of nuclear parts and equipment left unused in July 2017, when the Moncks Corner-based utility and Cayce-based SCE&G indefinitely suspended construction on the overbudget and overdue project.

At the time, Santee Cooper officials publicly held out hope the project could be completed one day, perhaps a decade or more down the road if a different regulatory, political or economic environment made nuclear power production more practical.

SCE&G has been trying to give up the federal operating license for more than a year, part of that utility’s efforts to show it fully has abandoned the project and deserves hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits.

But, last January, Santee Cooper asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold off on approving SCE&G’s request to terminate the license, saying it wanted time to evaluate its options, including another utility finishing the project.

Santee Cooper searched the world for more than a year but could find no company interested in buying and finishing the Summer project, agency staff told the utility’s board Monday. To keep the license, Santee Cooper would need to spend millions to dollars more to show the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the utility has the ability to finish and operate the unfinished plant, staff said.

“There are going to be immediate, significant expenditures if we continue the license,” Santee Cooper general counsel Michael Baxley said.

Santee Cooper board chairman Charlie Condon agreed. “These licenses really have no value to us. In fact, they have the exact opposite.”

Because SCE&G and its new owner, Virginia-based Dominion Energy, have relinquished all claims to the Summer site, Santee Cooper will pocket 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of any equipment that is salvageable, a spokeswoman for the agency said Monday.

Santee Cooper can use the money to help pay off its $4 billion in nuclear construction debt.

The state agency’s customers each are paying about $5 a month toward that debt now, a figure expected to rise to $13 a month for the next four decades.

Meanwhile, Santee Cooper must pay to protect and preserve the parts for a possible sale.

In February, Santee Cooper told the governor it would pay about $19 million a year to preserve the nuclear parts – potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars – and to continue leasing two massive warehouses full of unused equipment.

This story was originally published January 28, 2019, 11:56 AM.

PINOPOLIS, S.C. (WCBD) – Legend has it that inside of the Old Nazareth Cemetery in Pinopolis, SC, there is a ghost roaming the field.

According to the story, a woman named Annie was married to an abusive man who, in a fit of rage, decided to cut off her head one day.

Annie was buried in the cemetery and is said to be walking the grounds searching for her missing head.

I decided to reach out to people in the community to see what they know about this story. Many said they were familiar with the story as it was told amongst their friends years ago.

Donna Reed, a longtime Berkeley County resident, was the only one who would do an interview as she shared her “Headless Annie” experience.

She said the story was told to her by her grandma who would always tell her “don’t be going out there.”

However, Donna said, one night, she and her friends decided to take a visit to the cemetery and test out the legend for themselves.

She says it was told if you walk around the graves and say the name “Headless Annie” three times then she would appear.

The group took part in the challenge but never actually saw the spirit, but they did witness something strange.

“[It] was like a storm inside…Everybody was like ‘it’s not blowing out there like it was in there and everybody was looking at me and we walked out and…you could see the trees inside that were blowing around that and I just said ‘nope, no more.’

Donna Reed

Donna said once they said Annie’s name the winds started to pick up and blow inside of the cemetery, but right outside of the gates, she said there was no wind blowing at all.

Ever since that incident, Donna has never returned to the cemetery.

Although she had a weird experience, she said she sees no issue with kids today calling out to “Headless Annie” for themselves if they go for the right reason.

“If they go out there and did it like we did, just for fun…and see if anything happens then that’s one thing, but if they go out there with spite and destroy stuff then no stay out of there and let them rest,” said Reed.

When looking back on her one visit to the Old Nazareth Cemetery, Donna did share her opinion on just how true the legend really is.

“It’s definitely a possibility. I’m not going to rule it out. I don’t know where her head went, [but] I’m not going to stay there and help her find it.”

Donna Reed

Although, no on has reported seeing “Headless Annie”, she may still be out there searching for her missing head.

Up the Tailrace Canal in Moncks Corner is Santee Cooper’s Pinopolis lock and dam at the Jefferies Hydroelectric Station. The concrete and steel structure has held back the waters of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie since the 1940s.

Technology has come a long way since then, but as you rise and fall through the Pinopolis Lock, you are reminded of some astonishing engineering, making the structure as strong, dependable and important as ever.

“People like to call it the locks but it is just the lock,” said Willard Strong, a media specialist with Santee Cooper.

To get from the Tailrace Canal into Lake Moultrie and back by boat, the lock is the only way.

“It really wasn’t meant for recreational boating per se; it was meant for inland navigation and commercial traffic but that never really panned out,” Strong said.

Recreational boaters use the lock often. From the Tailrace Canal, massive steel gates 80 feet high slowly open to allow boats to enter into the concrete box, 180 feet long and 60 feet wide.

“You pull in and you tie up to the floating mooring area in the lock, safety is the primary thing, we want people to safely tie up and stay in the boat,” Strong said.

Once inside and tied up, the gates close. A final ray of light peers between the giant doors before they shut tight. Then, as if you are a toy in a giant's bathtub, water is pumped in and the boat begins to rise.

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“I have been in here on the Fourth of July with 20 other boats, of course it depends on how long the boat is,” Strong said.

In about 15 minutes, occupants rise 75 feet from the canal. Another set of gates on the other end eases open, spilling into the expansive lake above.

The lock is mainly for boaters but Santee Cooper has found other ways to take advantage of the structure, using it in ways engineers probably didn’t think about so many years ago.

“We also use the locks in cooperation with DNR to actually move fish from the river in the lake during the spring when they are on their spawning run,” said Larry McCord, manager of Environmental Resources at Santee Cooper.

With the summer boating season heating up, the lock will begin to get very busy in the coming months. Santee Cooper recently started the spring and summer hours for the lock. Starting April 10, the lock began operating from 9 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Santee Cooper officials said they want to remind boaters the lock does not operate during thunderstorms or rough-water conditions. Boats or watercraft must be at least 10 feet in length and no longer than 150 feet. Watercraft, such as Jet Skis, must be tied to boats during the lock operation.

Normally a dozen 16-foot boats can fit at one time. Santee Cooper officials say it is important keep the hours of operation in mind because the locking procedure takes between 20 and 45 minutes to complete, depending on the crowd.

While use of the lock is free, Santee Cooper asks that if you have a large party of boats, you are encouraged to call 843-899-LOCK (5625) in advance.

Up the Tailrace Canal in Moncks Corner is Santee Cooper’s Pinopolis lock and dam at the Jefferies Hydroelectric Station. The concrete and steel structure has held back the waters of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie since the 1940s.

Technology has come a long way since then but as you rise and fall through the Pinopolis Lock, you are reminded of some astonishing engineering, making the structure as strong, dependable and important as ever.

“People like to call it the locks but it is just the lock,” said Willard Strong a media specialist with Santee Copper.

To get from the Tailrace Canal into Lake Moultrie and back by boat, the lock is the only way.

“It really wasn’t meant for recreational boating per se; it was meant for inland navigation and commercial traffic but that never really panned out,” Strong said.

Recreational boaters use the lock often. From the Tailrace Canal, massive steel gates 80 feet high slowly open to allow boats to enter into the concrete box, 180 feet long and 60 feet wide.

“You pull in and you tie up to the floating mooring area in the lock, safety is the primary thing, we want people to safely tie up and stay in the boat,” Strong said.

Once inside and tied up, the gates close. A final ray of light peers between the giant doors before they shut tight. Then as if you are toy in giant bathtub, water is pumped in and boat begins to rise.

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“I have been in here on the 4th of July with 20 other boats, of course it depends on how long the boat is,” Strong said.

In about 15 minutes, occupants rise 75 feet from the canal. Another set of gates on the other end eases open spilling into the expansive lake above.

The lock is mainly for boaters but Santee Cooper has found other ways to take advantage of the structure, using it in ways engineers probably didn’t think about so many years ago.

“We also use the locks in cooperation with DNR to actually move fish from the river in the lake during the spring when they are on their spawning run,” said Larry McCord, manager of Environmental Resources at Santee Cooper.

With the summer boating season heating up, the lock will begin to get very busy in the coming months. Santee Cooper recently started the spring and summer hours for the lock. Starting April 10, the lock began operating from 9 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Santee Cooper officials said they want to remind boaters the lock does not operate during thunderstorms or rough-water conditions. Boats or watercraft must be at least 10 feet in length and no longer than 150 feet. Watercraft, such as Jet Skis, must be tied to boats during the lock operation.

Normally a dozen 16-foot boats can fit at one time. Santee Cooper officials say it is important keep the hours of operation in mind because the locking procedure takes between 20 and 45 minutes to complete, depending on the crowd.

While use of the lock is free, Santee Cooper asks that if you have a large party of boats, you are encouraged to call 843-899-LOCK (5625) in advance.