South Carolina is getting $215,151 in federal disaster funds to repair the Odell Adams Bridge, damaged during severe storms and flooding that prompted a presidential major disaster declaration for the state.

The grant, awarded through FEMA's Public Assistance program and administered by the South Carolina Adjutant General's Office, covers the bulk of what is likely a roughly $287,000 repair job. Under the program's standard cost-sharing formula, the federal government picks up 75% of eligible costs, leaving the state and local government to cover the remaining quarter — a financial burden that can strain smaller jurisdictions with tight budgets.

The bridge's exact location hasn't been disclosed in the grant record, but the Odell Adams Bridge fits the profile of the rural structures most at risk in South Carolina: older, built to lower standards, and sitting in a floodplain where repeated inundation steadily wears away at foundations and decking. The state has more than 9,400 bridges, and a notable share have been rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete in recent federal inventories.

South Carolina has been hit by a relentless string of disasters over the past decade. Catastrophic flooding in October 2015 damaged or destroyed hundreds of roads and bridges across the state, cutting off communities for days. Hurricane Matthew followed in 2016, then Hurricane Florence in 2018, and the remnants of Hurricane Ian in 2022. Each storm adds new damage on top of repairs that often haven't been fully completed or reimbursed from the last one. FEMA Public Assistance grants from the 2015 floods alone still had open obligations years later, according to a 2022 Government Accountability Office review that found PA projects routinely take years to close out nationwide.

This award is part of a broader pattern of federal recovery dollars flowing into South Carolina. Earlier grants under the same disaster declaration have funded road clearing in upstate counties and debris removal across the state. A separate $284,000 FEMA award went toward a bridge washed out by Hurricane Helene, underscoring how frequently the state's rural bridge stock takes the brunt of storm damage.

Beyond restoring the bridge to its pre-disaster condition, FEMA's program allows for hazard mitigation upgrades that could make the structure more resistant to future flooding. Whether those enhancements are included in this project isn't specified in the grant record.

Repairs will move forward as the state processes the award through the Adjutant General's Office, which oversees the South Carolina Emergency Management Division and coordinates all federal disaster reimbursements for the state.