Cherokee County, SC Hurricane Preparedness: Flood Elevation (2026)

Section 8-141 of the Cherokee County Code lists general standards for all areas of special flood hazard, and two of them are elevation rules for the buildings and equipment that matter most when flooding hits. Critical development must be elevated to the 500-year flood elevation or to the highest known historical flood elevation where records are available, whichever is greater. Section 8-121 defines critical development as development critical to the community's public health and safety, essential to the orderly functioning of a community, storing or producing highly volatile, toxic or water-reactive materials, or housing occupants that may be insufficiently mobile to avoid loss of life or injury. Its examples are jails, hospitals, schools, fire stations, nursing homes, wastewater treatment facilities, water plants, and gas, oil and propane storage facilities. If no data exists establishing either elevation, the applicant must provide a hydrologic and hydraulic engineering analysis that generates 500-year flood elevation data.

Utilities get their own margin. Electrical, ventilation, plumbing, heating and air conditioning equipment, including ductwork, and other service facilities must be designed or located to prevent water from entering or accumulating within the components during conditions of the base flood plus three (3) feet. Related provisions add detail: pool utility equipment rooms can be built below the base flood elevation only if the building cannot be built at or above it because of the equipment's functionality, and the utilities must be anchored (§ 8-142(9)); elevators where the cab could descend below the base flood elevation need a float switch system or another system with the same level of safety (§ 8-142(10)); and on-site waste disposal systems must be located and constructed to avoid impairment or contamination during flooding (§ 8-141(8)).

Planning and recovery steps sit alongside the elevation rules. Section 8-142(3)(d) requires an evacuation plan for all residents of every new, substantially improved or substantially damaged manufactured home park or subdivision in a flood-prone area, filed with and approved by the local floodplain administrator and the local emergency preparedness coordinator. After a flood, the administrator assesses damage using FEMA's residential substantial damage estimator software to determine whether it equals or exceeds fifty (50) percent of the structure's market value before the damage occurred (§ 8-134(17)).