LADY’S ISLAND, S.C. () — When people moved to the Telfair area of Lady’s Island, they said they were looking for a solid place to settle down. But that’s now been infiltrated by a horrible smell they explained as almost indescribable.

“Putrid. Putrid is the smell,” said Gordon Jones, a resident in the Telfair neighborhood.

A nearby neighbor, Anthony Jenkins, added on, “It smells stank. Awful.”

And the stench is spreading to several neighborhoods within a two-mile radius of the Barnwell Resources landfill.

The Department of Natural Resources confirmed the smell is hydrogen sulfide, a colorless gas with a ‘rotten egg’ smell.

They said it’s being released because of excessive rain eroding soil covering the buried trash.

“We’ve been here 11 years, and I have never really experienced that before,” said Jones. “Some mornings I’ve come out here and almost thrown up. It’s so severe, it’s pretty bad.”

Residents said it’s the most ‘stinky’ in the early morning hours and later in the evening, and it’s gotten worse in the last year.  

“Extremely worse over the past few months,” said Brenda Rupert, a resident who lives right next to the gate for the landfill. “You can’t even go outside and enjoy being outside or playing with your grandkids or any kids or cooking out or anything. It’s hard to even stay in the house when the smell was out so bad. You just want to leave.”

It’s not just an annoying odor outside, residents said it’s also creeping indoors.

“When you open the doors, the stench comes in with you,” said Jenkins.

Nearby neighbor, Jones, said the same.

“We were running our small window unit and we started noticing that the whole downstairs just reeked,” he said.

Many residents said they also recently started having health issues.

They’ve reported headaches, nausea and more.

“We’re coughing. We get sore throats when it’s in the house. Fatigue, increase in anxiety,” said Rupert. “It’s affecting our health. It affects our pet’s health. They have a rash and redness that will not go away.”

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said low exposure to hydrogen sulfide can cause irritability, asthmatic symptoms, and headaches.

High levels can be more extreme.

They explained that it’s rare for landfills to produce high levels, and even more rare to move offsite at high levels.

The South Carolina Department of Environmental Services released a statement:

“To mitigate the odor, the facility is actively replacing the cover soil on the landfill, using erosion blankets and berms to help control runoff to prevent a reoccurrence, and seeding the impacted area for stabilization. Getting the exposed waste covered and the area stabilized is typically an effective way to control odors associated with hydrogen sulfide. The facility purchased new equipment to dedicate resources to this effort and worked throughout the weekend to address the issue.   

Landfill staff are riding around the facility and the adjacent neighborhoods prior to beginning operations in the morning and after ending operations in the evening to determine if odors are present and helping to assess the effectiveness of the ongoing efforts. 

SCDES staff are increasing the frequency of observations at the facility. Independently, we also are riding around the facility and adjacent neighborhoods in the morning and evening and noting areas where odors are detected. We’ve requested that the facility voluntarily begin monitoring concentrations of hydrogen sulfide. 

We’re maintaining close communications with the facility. If odors persist once the erosion issues are fully addressed, additional actions will be implemented.”