Damage in Oconee could have been worse

Compared to Pickens and other counties, Oconee’s storm damage could have been a lot worse, in the estimation of Mike Smith, the state DOT’s resident maintenance engineer. Still the DOT in Oconee received several calls of water covering roads. In many cases, roads have been washed with dirt and driveway gravel. By late yesterday afternoon, part of Seneca’s East South Sixth Street between East Main and Goddard Avenue remained closed because of erosion. According to Smith, deteriorated metal pipes saturated the soils and created the erosion. The DOT official said, as time allows, his crews will address East South Sixth Street, as well as problems with the rural Doctor John’s Road near Westminster.