The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Flood Resiliency Blueprint program released the Neuse River Basin Action Strategy, a comprehensive framework to support flood resilience planning and decision-making across the basin.
"The Neuse River Basin Action Strategy will help communities keep their residents and critical infrastructure safe in the face of more frequent and severe flooding,” said DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson. “This strategy, the first of its kind in North Carolina, prioritizes resilience actions so that communities can make smart investments to reduce their flooding risk.”
The strategy identifies 113 prioritized flood resiliency actions across the Neuse River Basin that met baseline criteria, including their potential to reduce flood risk and support from local input, planning efforts and vulnerability assessment findings. The actions include structural and nonstructural projects such as stormwater system improvements, transportation and roadway upgrades, critical infrastructure protection, nature-based solutions, structure-level mitigation projects, such as elevating or floodproofing buildings in floodprone areas, and policy and planning actions.
Further evaluation and consultation with local leaders identified 29 high-priority actions that are recommended for early consideration as potential first steps toward implementation, based on local buy-in, feasibility and capacity, and potential impact and benefit. These actions represent a range of approaches, including floodplain and stream restoration, drainage and culvert improvement, roadway and critical infrastructure upgrades, floodproofing and elevation of critical facilities, early flood warning systems, and other stormwater and flood mitigation measures. The recommendations are intended to help guide initial investment and coordination while allowing flexibility for communities as funding, capacity and priorities evolve.
The recommended actions are stored and maintained in the Flood Resiliency Blueprint tool. Communities can update their plans and develop new ones with the support of Blueprint staff as new information and opportunities develop.
The action strategy is informed by a basin wide vulnerability assessment, community capacity assessment and gap analysis, as well as extensive engagement with local governments, state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and other partners throughout the Neuse River Basin. Local governments developed Local Action Plans, which outline locally identified flood resilience actions, and submitted them using the Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool. The Neuse River Basin Advisory Group, which brings together subject matter experts from state agencies, local and regional governments, nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions, also provided technical input and guidance throughout the process. Together, these analyses and collaborative efforts helped identify flood risks, local capacity and resilience needs, and priorities for reducing the impacts of current and future flooding.
The Neuse River Basin Action Strategy and supporting materials are available here.
DEQ will continue collaborating with local governments and partners as they use the Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool as a resource to support flood resilience planning and maintain up-to-date information on resiliency actions and funding opportunities. The Blueprint currently serves six of North Carolina’s 17 river basins. The River Basin Action Strategy Process will help to ensure that the Blueprint Tool reflects evolving local priorities and project needs and serves as an ongoing resource for flood resilience planning and decision-making. The remaining five RBAS (Tar-Pamlico, Lumber, Cape Fear, White Oak, and French Broad) will be released in the coming months.