Carteret County is surrounded by water on three sides. And 62% of its total area is water. So, when climate experts, scientists and area leadership met recently in Wilmington to discuss North Carolina’s flooding problem and brainstorm ways to mitigate this perennial and growing problem, I was all ears. The second annual Water Adaptations to Ensure Regional Success Summit, AKA the WATERS SUMMIT, was organized and hosted by Gregg Murphy, who represents Carteret County in North Carolina’s state legislature. the state’s 3rd Congressional District, including Carteret County, It attracted dozens of local leaders, regional experts and international partners who’s primary aim is to create a safer, more resilient future for North Carolina, in general, and the coastal plain specifically as we face increased flooding in the wake of climate change. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, appearing virtually from Washington, D.C., demonstrated the interest of the Federal government to find solutions to the massive flood damage caused by hurricanes and other storms. Tillis said that it's likely that flooding in North Carolina will increase, in part because of the changing climate and the rapid growth and urbanization of the state. A problem of this scale, he said, is going to require not only local and state agencies but also federal agencies working together on innovative legislation and policies.
Collaboration between every level of government and the private sector is key to better prepare for the future development in eastern North Carolina where inland and coastal flooding regularly upends the livelihoods of families, businesses and even entire communities. Many areas of eastern North Carolina, I’m thinking of Kinston and New Bern, see problems even after relatively small storm events now. In Wilmington, the parking lot at the Battleship North Carolina, floods early and often. The frequency and amount of flooding also is on the increase in the downtown and historic districts of Beaufort. Two factors have contributed greatly to this increased frequency and amount of flooding. The first is all the bodies of waters that surround
Beaufort. The Town lies within the White Oak River Basin and is bordered by three watersheds. The second is the increase in impervious surfaces resulting from increased development concentrated within the Town Creek and Taylor Creek watersheds. Together these factors have made flooding a regular event for homeowners and business owners in Beaufort.
The first WATERS Summit, held a year ago focussed on identifying flooding problems. This year’s summit was all about developing targeted, solutions-based approaches to flooding problems and creating a workable blueprint for disaster preparedness. Dredging was hilighted as an important approach. Rivers, creeks and streams accumulate a lot of sediment, debris and other material over the years and flood waters have nowhere to go but over the banks. While dredging can increase the hydraulic efficiency of river channels and potentially reduce overbank flooding upstream, dredging may actually increase flood risk to downstream communities. The main point is that there’s a lot of complicated and competing components to this flooding issue. We need everybody to come together and by everybody I mean homeowners, businesses, scientists and elected officials must get on the same page in a very meaningful way, working across disciplines to enact the changes necessary to mitigate flooding in the future.
Jay Faison, chair of the American Flood Coalition said that one key to addressing flooding is knowing how much water will come and how much water will go out. Right now we don’t have that data, much less the right data. We are guessing 95-99% of the time. A good first step is developing a reliable North Carolina flood forecasting system, something that Dr. Rick Luettich of the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, has been working on. Dr. Chip Konrad, a climatologist at UNC Chapel Hill said that climate change also is responsible for the increasingly strong storms we are experiencing, because warmer waters create more evaporation, which leads to more water vapor in the air and thus, more rainfall. He also noted that there is a natural, long term hurricane cycle and this cycle is dependent on a weather event climatologists call the North Atlantic Oscillation. This North Atlantic Oscillation measures the relative strength and fluctuations in atmospheric pressures of a permanent low-pressure system over Iceland (the Icelandic Low) and a permanent high-pressure system over the Azores (the Azores High.) The Oscillations control the strength and direction of westerly winds, the primary determinant of storm or hurricane tracks across the Atlantic. Currently, we’re in a positive cycle, which means more storms and stronger ones. And, Dr. Konrad said that this positive cycle could continue for another 10 to 30 years, increasing the urgency of learning how to mitigate flooding here in eastern North Carolina. Dr. Konrad added that Hurricane Florence was a good harbinger of what people can expect more of in the future If we choose to do nothing in the present. Florence inundated New Hanover, Onslow and Carteret Counties with 30 or more inches of rain. Flooding extended west to Interstate 40 and north to Kinston, flooding virtually all of the coastal plain for weeks. Some communities in eastern North Carolina continue to clean up after a storm that pounded the state 4 years ago!
Bottom line, North Carolina is no stranger to flooding. Now, it needs to become familiar with flood resilience. Other states, such as Florida and Louisiana, and communities like Babcock Ranch have embraced flood mitigation technologies that North Carolina can use and build upon. In a previous video I spoke about the community of Babcock Ranch, that survived the wrath of Hurricane Ian unscathed. The streets in this community were designed to flood so houses don’t. Native landscaping along roads helps control stormwater. Power and internet lines are buried to avoid wind damage. And since Babcock Ranch relies not on fossil fuels but on solar energy, the lights never went out in this 2,000-home community. To learn more about flood and flood resiliency, please go to my website, www.EmeraldIsleHomesforSaleNC.com and sign up for my blog. Ready to buy or sell? Call me at 919-308-2292. Explore the video tab for my weekly uploads to my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive free donuts at my Flip Flops Donut shop. Text your email address to 919-308-2292 and subscribe to my newsletter. My book, "Live Where You Vacation" is available on Amazon.com or at Kindle.
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