How do you raise a large, historic home? Better yet, how do you put it back down? Should such an old home be raised at all? All are tough questions in a city that until recently had never lifted one before. “There’s a lot of head scratching going on,” said long-time contractor Gary Walters. He’s been working on a massive home at 42 Rutledge Avenue in Charleston, S.C. since last fall. That’s when its owner, Jack Margolies, finally got approval from the city’s Board of Architectural Review to

For the past few years, we've brought you a lot of stories about recovery from the 2015 floods and Hurricane Matthew. Many people across the state might be wondering "isn't this recovery taking a long time?" As JR Sanderson, Program Director for the South Carolina Disaster Recovery Office , explains, the answer is yes—and no. "If you're a citizen, and you're in Andrews, South Carolina, or you're in Nichols, South Carolina, you look at us, and you'll say, 'wow, you guys move very, very slow.' And

Between the autumns of 2015 and 2017, 47 of South Carolina’s state parks experienced temporary closures due to damages sustained during severe weather events, including the Floods of 2015, Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Irma and the Pinnacle Mountain Wildfire at Table Rock State Park . February marked an important milestone: for the first time since the fall of 2015, every affected park was reopened. According to Phil Gaines, Director of the S.C. State Parks Service , the frequency and geographic

According to an official proclamation from Governor Henry McMaster, this week is Severe Weather and Flood Safety Awareness Week in South Carolina. It’s an occasion intended to encourage South Carolinians to prepare for potential severe weather scenarios. In a press conference at the SC Emergency Management Division on Tuesday, South Carolina Deputy Adjutant General R. Van McCarty emphasized that while the South Carolina National Guard and SCEMD are ready to respond in a crisis, it’s up to each

Mark Wilbert has been the man the city of Charleston has turned to in case of emergencies. He helped people prepare for Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. He was there after 9 parishioners at Mother Emanuel were killed. Last August, he planned for a crowd of thousands in town for the solar eclipse. Now the former city Emergency Management Director has a new job. He's Charleston's first ever Chief Resilience officer. "We're the first city in South Carolina to actually have this position," said Wilbert

Back in January, a diverse group of Midlands community members congregated at the United Way of the Midlands . Among the 20 or so assembled guests were lawyers, businesspeople, nonprofit staffers, and a vet. What they held in common was their shared action after a terrible natural disaster 12 years ago, when Hurricane Katrina battered the gulf coast. Hurricane Katrina wasn’t a specifically South Carolinian tragedy, but when the storm struck the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi as a

In September 2015, many farmers in South Carolina were looking forward to a promising harvest. The drought that began in 2014 had subsided in time for at least one crop to flourish remarkably well: by the time October rolled in, full, glistening fields of white cotton spread through rural South Carolina, just shy of ready for harvest. It seemed that farmers would see a rich reward for the stress of the long, dry months that preceded. Then the rain came. From the Midlands to the Lowcountry,

Winter is an especially difficult time of year for unhoused South Carolinians. As temperatures dip below freezing throughout the season, the threat of hypothermia is ever-present. That’s why several nonprofits in the Midlands have forged together each winter since 2014 to sponsor Columbia’s Inclement Weather Center (IWC), open from November 1 to March 31 on nights when the temperature is 40 degrees or below. The City of Columbia contracts with The United Way to run the center, in partnership

Last month, the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season finally came to a close. From June 1 to Nov. 30, South Carolinians were encouraged by SCEMD and other state agencies to be on high alert, especially after the severe storm impacts the state received during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Now that hurricane season has wrapped up, we called on John Qualiariello, a Columbia-based meteorologist for the National Weather Service, to reflect. “2017 turned out to be a very active season. We had 16 named storms.

Since President Trump announced the U.S. would exit the Paris Climate Agreement back in June, redoubled support for the agreement has come from the local level, with mayors from around the nation pledging their cities' support for the Agreement. Here in South Carolina, where nearly 55 percent of voters opted for Trump in 2016, four prominent mayors of diverse political leanings pledged to fulfill the terms of the Paris Agreement as part of the Climate Mayors Caucus, which is composed of some 380