A popular public boat ramp on the Congaree River in Columbia, South Carolina is getting repaired after sustaining damage in a recent disaster, with $176,318 in federal aid now flowing to the state to cover the work.

The Jordan Memorial Boat Ramp, located in Columbia's Rosewood neighborhood, is one of the main public access points for boaters and anglers on the Congaree River. The federal grant comes through FEMA's Public Assistance Program under disaster declaration DR-4829, a presidentially declared disaster for South Carolina. The exact storm or weather event behind that declaration hasn't been specified in the award, but the January 2026 posting date suggests the damage occurred sometime in the 2024-2025 period. The Adjutant General of South Carolina, which oversees the state's emergency management operations, received the funds and will direct them to the local repair effort.

Under FEMA's standard cost-share formula, the federal government typically covers 75 percent of eligible repair costs, with the state and local government splitting the remainder.

The Rosewood area sits in a flood-vulnerable stretch of the Midlands, where the Congaree and its tributaries have a history of severe flooding. The region was hit by what forecasters called a thousand-year flood in October 2015, causing over a billion dollars in damage across the Columbia metro area. Hurricanes Matthew, Florence, Dorian, and Ian all brought additional major disaster declarations to South Carolina in the years that followed.

This repair is one of many federally funded recovery projects working through South Carolina's disaster pipeline. Similar FEMA grants have recently covered culvert damage in Pickens and Greenville counties from Hurricane Helene and road repairs in Spartanburg County, reflecting how broadly the state's public infrastructure has been affected by recent storms.

No timeline for completing the boat ramp repairs has been made public yet.