Friday, September 1, 2023

Hurricane Idalia

 It wouldn't be the start of September without a Hurricane threat.  Thankfully what appeared like a storm that could get interesting, ended up becoming just nice rainfall and a big mess.  Idalia stayed to our west and though it brought enough wind to make a debris mess on the course, we avoided the major tree and flooding damage that could have occurred.  In total, the island received 3 inches of rain, which turned out to be a great test for our new drainage system on Dogwood.  We made a point to walk the course during the rain to check basins and outfalls to see how well water was moving and you could hear the water flowing on the course.  A key point to remember as we get closer to opening, the drainage gets better with age.  The disturbed soil and reshaping has water "guessing" on where to travel.  We also are relying more on surface runoff early in the stage of the new course as the soil creates new pore space from root growth for water to travel through.  We are seeing full evidence of this process right now when you compare Magnolia and Dogwood.  Both courses are draining exceptionally well, but there is a difference on how quickly water moves from the surface to the drain lines and off when you go from Magnolia to Dogwood.  We fully expect Dogwood to catch up to Magnolia over the next 8-12 months and remain excited about how the course handles rain events.  

Radar as the center of Idalia approached Callawassie



Water flowing from XGD pipe  




The final push

 TDI has completed their punch list projects and has begun to demobilize their equipment.  This is always an exciting time as we wrap up the...