From dams to floodgates, House bill would help NC better prepare for hurricanes
Some of North Carolina’s most flood-prone communities would receive a boost from a bill that passed out of a N.C. House committee on Tuesday, helping them better prepare for future storms.
The Disaster Relief and Mitigation Act of 2021 would provide about $219 million for flood mitigation work throughout Eastern North Carolina while also making permanent the still-temporary state agency that oversees the spending of more than a billion dollars of federal disaster relief funds. The House Environment committee voted in favor of the bill Tuesday, sending it on to the House Appropriations committee.
North Carolina suffered widespread damage during Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, with recovery efforts from both storms still underway throughout Eastern North Carolina. But even as the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency helps return people to their homes, members of the N.C. House have been crafting a funding package that legislative leaders hope leaves the state more prepared for the next storm.
“This is one of the largest proactive statewide investments in flood mitigation that North Carolina has ever made. It would help us get out of a costly cycle of spending after disasters,” Rep. John Bell, a Goldsboro Republican and the bill’s primary sponsor, told the House Environment Committee.
The N.C. Climate Science Report, released last year, concluded that North Carolina is very likely to see heavier rain from hurricanes and associated river flooding, while storm surge flooding is “virtually certain” to increase. The House legislation does not mention climate change, though, instead focusing on infrastructure projects and staffing up resilience efforts.
“It turns into a political and an ideological battle,” Bell said. “What we’re looking at now is: How do we address what we have to address?”
After Hurricane Florence in 2018, the General Assembly created the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency to oversee the spending of federal disaster relief money. Initially, the office included 30 jobs funded for three years, but the Disaster Relief and Mitigation Act would make those jobs permanent.
“I’m really glad to be able to tell the staff tomorrow that this is moving forward and that they don’t need to be worried and that the expertise that we’re building can continue,” Laura Hogshead, NCORR’s chief operating officer, told The News & Observer.
Additionally, the bill would add 13 positions to focus solely on flood resilience, including three who would help local governments. Now, there are five people on NCORR’s resilience staff.
“This is a huge investment,” Hogshead said. “This is a big investment in resilience, so the resilience side of our office is very excited about staffing up.”
NCORR is working to help people whose homes were damaged during Hurricane Florence, Hogshead said. Nearly a year ago, the agency launched a $325.6 million program to repair or replace storm-damaged homes using federal relief money.
Hurricane season begins
Tuesday marked the first day of hurricane season in the Atlantic basin. Researchers from NC State University have predicted the season will be an active one, The News & Observer reported, with 15 to 18 named storms, seven to nine hurricanes and two or three major hurricanes.
The bill also funds a spate of longstanding projects necessitated by recent storm damage, including $18 million for channel widening on the Lumber River; $5.2 million to build a levee near Seven Springs; and $5 million to help install floodgates on the CSX tracks in Lumberton.
“You can’t give up on homes, and I’m certainly not going to do it,” said Bell, addressing the Seven Springs project in particular, which would shield the small town that suffered heavy flooding during both Florence and 2016’s Matthew.
Brunswick County is a point of emphasis in the bill, with the Town of Boiling Spring Lakes set to receive $14 million to help rebuild dams that failed during Hurricane Florence and Southport set for $5 million to help stabilize its waterfront.
The bill also funds three people to oversee mitigation on the Neuse River and another three to help with the Lumber River and Brunswick County projects.
Both the Lumber River and Neuse River basins would receive $10 million to fund buyout projects under the bill, which would be administered by the NCORR staffers assigned to the geographic areas.
Rep. Pat McElraft, a Carteret Republican who chairs the House Environment committee, said legislators have considered in recent years ideas dating back to the 1970s but had a difficult time finding the funds to turn those ideas into actions.
“Because we have done such a great job of saving a rainy day fund for rainy days, we finally have some money to put into resiliency,” McElraft said, “and to prevent these kinds of things from happening instead of fixing homes after it has flooded.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "From dams to floodgates, House bill would help NC better prepare for hurricanes."