Crews are set to begin pulling an estimated 25,000 cubic yards of fallen trees and vegetative debris out of the Reedy River starting Thursday, tackling a flood hazard that has lingered in the waterway since Hurricane Helene struck two years ago. The work, expected to take five to six weeks, targets a stretch of river between Falls Park and Mauldin Road where submerged logs and branches have piled up out of easy reach.
According to the City of Greenville
, the debris poses an increased flood risk during severe weather and heavy rain, and the timing means the cleanup will run for the better part of a month and a half before crews finish. The city does not own the heavy specialized aquatic equipment needed to extract submerged trees and vegetative debris from remote sections of the river, so the cleanup will continue until the job is done, according to the
City of Greenville
.
A $1.4 Million Federal Fix for a Two-Year-Old Problem
The project is being paid for with a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, funneled through its Emergency Watershed Protection Program, which helps local governments clear waterways and stabilize riverbanks after major disasters, as reported by the Greenville Journal. That funding was made possible in part by Greenville city staff initiating an update to its FEMA-approved Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan in August 2023; federal and state agencies approved the plan in 2025. The update was an administrative step tied to FEMA funding while also securing flood insurance discounts for local property owners under FEMA's Community Rating System.
Hurricane Helene is the reason for the cleanup. State emergency records showed more than 15 inches of rain fell across Greenville, Pickens, and Oconee counties in September 2024, triggering record-breaking flooding along the Reedy, Saluda, and Broad rivers, as Hoodline previously reported. The cleanup addresses debris left in the riverbed after the storm.
A Small Slice of a Massive Statewide Cleanup
The 25,000 cubic yards slated for removal from the Reedy River is modest compared to the scale of Greenville's broader post-storm recovery. The city's Public Works Department cleared and mulched more than 427,000 cubic yards of storm debris and removed 52 hazardous tree stumps from city streets in the aftermath of Helene, meaning the river project represents roughly 6% of the city's total post-storm cleanup volume, per the city. Statewide, the picture was even larger: crews working with the South Carolina Department of Transportation collected more than 3 million cubic yards of storm debris in the four months following the hurricane, according to the Greenville Journal.
Once pulled from the water, the vegetative debris will not go to waste. The material will be mulched and repurposed across Greenville's municipal parks and public grounds, mirroring the disposal method used for debris collected from city streets after the storm, the city says.
Why the Stretch Between Falls Park and Mauldin Road Matters
Renewable Water Resources' $50 million underground sewer tunnel was built to capture heavy stormwater runoff and prevent wastewater overflows into the river during major storms, according to the Post and Courier. The tunnel is designed to keep sewage out of the river during heavy rain.
Seven miles below Greenville, the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services announced a milestone on September 8, 2025, in replacing the 130-year-old Lake Conestee Dam. The project has $44 million in identified funding, with final completion expected in October 2025, and is intended to address the risk of dam failure and the potential release of more than 3 million cubic yards of toxic industrial sediment, per the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services.
Part of a Broader Flood Mitigation Push
Earlier this month, Greenville City Council approved $480,000 for a flood mitigation study along Richland Creek, funded primarily through a federal Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery grant, as part of Helene recovery efforts. The Reedy River cleanup involves flood mitigation, federal grant funding, and physical debris removal.
