Agency seeks $5M for dam safety following Hurricane Matthew

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South Carolina’s environmental agency is requesting more than $5 million for dam safety following Hurricane Matthew. The State newspaper of Columbia reports Wednesday (http://bit.ly/2fQH2eo ) the Department of Health and Environmental Control wants $2.3 million to stabilize or tear down about two dozen dams damaged last month and about $3 million to inspect other dams. That follows $3 million legislators gave the agency this fiscal year to boost dam safety following historic flooding in October 2015. The request is part of the agency’s budget proposal for 2017-18. It says “two disasters in two years” have strained the dam safety program’s already limited budget. At least 70 state-regulated dams burst amid flooding from the two events. Hundreds more were damaged.