Taking the long view to soften the blow of flooding

Jun. 28—After dealing with the aftermath of massive flooding for decades, North Carolina is getting serious about lessening the impact of flood events.

The N.C. General Assembly provided $20 million in 2021 to examine each river basin in the state, looking at the recovery response and how greater resiliency can be built in, and then prioritizing projects statewide, basin by basin.

The first basin selected where a Flood Resiliency Blueprint will be prepared is Neuse River near Raleigh. This is being viewed as a pilot project, said Marc Recktenwald, who directs the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality's mitigation division.

The second project to be tackled starting sometime next year will be the French Broad basin, which includes the Pigeon River.

There were two meetings in Haywood Thursday that were part of a statewide sweep to both inform communities about the effort and gather information from those who have dealt with flooding and its aftermath.

Haywood was the fourth community visited by the DEQ team leading the effort where government and nonprofit leaders, along with local residents, could learn about and weigh in on the process.

Haywood experience

Mitch and Melanie Burress of Cruso attended the drop-in meeting held at Crestview Baptist Church where they indicated the process was needed, but were dubious about how beneficial it might be.

"I'm still trying to see where it will help out people at the head of the river," Mitch Burress said. "This is unique terrain and it is more complicated to address what we have up here."

For instance, when a property is flooded, and the mitigation plan is to elevate a home on a block structure, what will happen when a flash flood hits with such torrential force against blocks in its path, he asked.

Haywood County Commissioner Kevin Ensley pointed out that in flat areas flood waters spread out, but in the mountains there is often limited flat area, and it's by a river.

"When they fund buyouts it is devastating the tax base," he said, noting federal buyout rules narrowly construe future uses of the property — nothing commercial, no permanent structures and no dwellings. "I encouraged them to try to capture as much reuse as they can so we don't lose or tax base and private citizens can use and enjoy but property, but with resiliency built in."

He noted that in, 2021, after Tropical Storm Fred hit the county, Clyde residences weren't hit nearly as badly as there were in the back-to-back floods in 2004. That's because many took advantage of the buyout offered by the Federal Emergency Management agency.

"But the homes that were left were resilient," Ensley said. "The county now has a lot of property we need to mow, but there isn't a lot of other things we can do with it. It would be nice if a farmer could lease it to grow tomatoes or something, but we can't use it for anything commercial."

Duane Vanhook, district director of the Haywood County Soil and Water Conservation District, said it was helpful that many in the county were able to let state officials know about the hurdles they encountered in working through a flood recovery.

"It's fine to make plans but, but you also need to know the obstacles and how can they be addressed," VanHook said. "We're hoping they can provide some of that in the tool they are going to be providing back to us."

A top obstacle is the lack of matching money for different grant opportunities, he said, and even if the money can be pulled together, there's a lack of adequate staff to administer the complicated agreement.

A second obstacle, VanHook said, is the lack of good information.

"We don't have a lot of great data as far as flood mapping, there's not many stream and rainfall gauges and there has not been as many studies done here as there has in other parts of state," he said. "What data we do have is outdated."

What's next?

Elizabeth Christenson, a DEQ policy advisor, and Hope Morgan, who works with a firm under contract with the department, were onsite at Crestview Baptist Church to answer questions from residents.

"We'll never stop the flooding," Morgan said, "but the goal is to reduce its impacts."

Both agreed it would be a year or so before anything happened in Haywood on the flood resiliency blueprint project, and that when the time rolled around, the county would be more than ready to participate in a meaningful way.

"Local government here has a clear understating of their issues," Morgan said. "All of them have done a lot of work to plan for and understand impacts of events and are really working together well to determine best steps forward. It's a very good place to actually start this conversation."

The blueprint is not trying to replace local planning, Christensen stressed, but to bring plans in all jurisdictions within a river basin into one place.

"A lot of great things have been started in Haywood," Recktenwald said. "There is great energy with everyone working together. There are things unique to the mountains, maps to update, moving rivers. Our overall impression is that the great energy will help when we get to the French Broad."