In 2018, Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to examine coastal storm risk on the Charleston peninsula. After almost four years of careful study, USACE recommended an eight-mile storm surge structure. USACE also proposed nature-based features such as living shorelines and 10 pumps to mitigate impoundment and overtopping of water during a storm.
The final design and final path of the structure have NOT been designed nor engineered. Neither have potential additional flood-risk reduction benefits. Those components will be part of the project's next phase: Pre-Construction Engineering and Design (PED).
The USACE also recommended nonstructural enhancements, such as home elevation and building proofing to mitigate storm surge risk in the peninsula's Rosemont and Bridgeview communities where a structure is not practical. To accommodate those communities, the City is developing a specific Resilience Plan for Rosemont and Bridgeview with the Lowcountry alliance for Model Communities (LAMC), a regional environmental justice organization. the plan will align the USACE storm surge project with the communities other flood risks, such as rainfall, tidal flooding, and sea level rise.