Tar-Pamlico strategy prioritizes steps to reduce flood risks

The newly released Tar-Pamlico River Basin Action Strategy identifies more than 30 prioritized actions to help communities within the river basin reduce flood risk and strengthen resilience.

Actions prioritized in the strategy include structural and nonstructural projects such as stormwater system and roadway improvements to protecting critical infrastructure and expanding nature-based solutions. It also includes policy and planning measures to support long-term community resilience and identifies building-level mitigation projects, such as elevating or floodproofing buildings.

The strategy, released Thursday by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Flood Resiliency Blueprint program, is a comprehensive framework designed to guide long-term flood resilience planning and decision-making across the basin.

The strategy prioritizes 33 actions, 24 of which were directly submitted either by or in collaboration with local governments. The process was guided by the Tar-Pamlico River Basin Advisory Group, which is made up of state, local and regional experts, nonprofits, and academic institutions. The group helped identify flood risks, understand local needs and capacity, and prioritize actions to reduce current and future flooding impacts.

Resilience actions identified for the basin are stored and maintained in the Flood Resiliency Blueprint tool, which allows users to develop and evaluate flood resilience actions and communities to update localized flood plans with the support of Blueprint staff as new information and opportunities develop.

“The Tar-Pamlico River Basin Action Strategy will help communities identify the resilience actions that will make the most of every dollar that they invest to reduce flood risk,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson stated in a release. “Communities in the basin have seen firsthand the destruction that follows hurricanes like Matthew and Floyd, and this Strategy will help them prepare for the next storm, saving lives, homes, businesses and money.” 

Six of North Carolina’s 17 river basins are currently served in the Flood Resiliency Blueprint. The Neuse River Basin Action Strategy was released last month. Action strategies for the Cape Fear, French Broad, Lumber and White Oak basins will be released in the coming months.