raze Nort Carolina shou bullé up o proven foding| News & Observer OP-ED = OCTOBER 20, 2016 5:49 PM N.C. should build past heavy flooding < 2of2 > @ BY RICHARD J. HOMOVEC Future anthropologists will quizzically reflect on our hurricane history and marvel; a nation which could land a spacecraft on an asteroid could not mitigate flood damage. One nation with a history of flooding that has succeeded in mitigating flood damage is Holland. Some homes and streets are constructed on what we would perceive as floating docks with flexible utility connections. The structures become dynamic under flood load and can rise and fall as the flood elevation rises and subsides. Intpukware.newsobeervercompiioniop-edariclet 09495162! 16soata016 Nort Garcina shoul bill up o prover eoing | News & Observer Solving some of the catastrophic flooding, coastal and inland, requires the skills of Naval Architects and Coastal Engineers. The home builders may need to acquire some ship-building skills. Some solutions are incredibly simple as providing buoyancy tanks and moorings under the mobile homes. (FEMA can only buy from the willing grantors in the NCFMIP zones) ADVERTISING Impoundments such as Lake Crabtree and Falls Lake routinely mitigate downstream impacts. Eastern North Carolina has no such protections. The model could be replicated in Eastern N.C., probably at a lower cost than the cumulative damage. The resulting lakes would provide recreation opportunities and water quality improvements. The spoil could enforce levies in areas such as Princeville. I recently asked a Professional Engineer if he thought that the simple addition of headwalls and wing walls would have prevented some of the highway wash-outs from Hurricane Matthew. He replied yes! The damage from Hurricane Katrina could have been mitigated had the policy makers included levee reinforcement as suggested by engineers. The front-end load of prevention outweighs the future damages. You can pay now or you (or succeeding generations) can pay later. One of the objectives of the Transportation Improvement Program was to locate four-lane highways within 90 miles of everywhere in the state. Road construction creates dams which obstruct the natural flow of water. Many drainage system guidelines only required to be designed for the 10-year storm. hips newscbserver.comiopniontop-edarticletOo4e562 inl 26swev016 North Carcina should bl up to prevent foodng| News & Observer Conventional wisdom states that if you did not design for the 10-year storm, the cost of development would be prohibitive. Creative building and site development, accompanied by prudent stormwater mitigation strategies, building codes and development regulation can help mitigate flood damage, and we may be able to continue to build in these areas. During my 62 years I have seen at least two 100-year storms. Said storm definition may have been created prior to the increase in road building and municipal development which creates higher runoff coefficients. (Many development codes now require detention and retention of stormwater.) When settlers moved off of the barrier islands and migrated to areas such as the Promise Land in Morehead City, they capitalized on elevation and small structure size (low-wind load). The advent of mega coastal homes with their wind loads are an invitation to disaster. Even the size of highway guide signs is limited by wind load. North Carolina has the intellectual capital to solve the perpetual “flooding” problems. Do we have the resolve to protect those downstream suffering from wind and flooding? While flooding captures our attention, who is planning for the next drought as the economically successful state increases our population? Let us not embarrass ourselves to future generations. Richard J. Homovec of Raleigh is a professional land surveyor. RELATED CONTENT + Hurricane Matthew: The Aftermath fy¥vyuae MORE OP-ED ‘YOU MAY LIKE ‘Sponsored Links by Taboola Why This Razor Is Causing So Many Guys To Switch ipzhravirewsobserver.comfopiiontop-ederticlet09495162 Hint 36sarevants ‘North Garcina should bull p to prevent fooding | News & Observer Hary's Century Old Ghost Ship Uncovered, But When They Look Inside... LifeDaily.com Tragic Moments Captured That Will Leave Anyone Speechless ‘Auto Overload Television reporter fired after she was carried through water by locals Oddchatter COMMENTS hipru.nensobserverconfosinlonop-edlarticletos4ase2 intsoera06 ‘North Cercina shoul bull up to prevent foocing| News & Observer 3. Comments Sort by Oldest Add @ comment... Donald Latham The solution is much simple than Mr Homovec proposes. Three or four years ago, the Republican controlled General Assembly passed a statue that forbid sea level rise so that developers and real estate agents could profit from sales and construction along ‘oceanfront property. For inland areas in the easter area of our state, the General Assembly should pass a law making it illegal to have rainfall of more than 4 inch in 24 hours, assuming the oceanfront doesn't migrate to parallel -95, Like * Reply “a 7 «16 hrs i Joye Wise - Folsom Lake College Love It, great answer! Like - Reply 9 1-44 hrs Bany Eriksen We don't need more subsidies for rural roads. If people want to live out in the country then they should deal with living the life they choose. Like Reply 1-5 hrs Terry Boardman « East Carolina University Richard J. Homovec is absolutely correct. Eastern North Carolina needs man made lakes and dams on the Tar and Neuse rivers to mitigate , but will not eliminate, significant flooding. | heard a tenative cost of Mathews flooding is $1.5 billion ( Floyd is much higher in 1999). While some 300( plus or minus) acre lakes and dams will not totally solve the problem, it will help significantly, and cost a lot less than a billion dollars. We should also understand that flood control is a desirable federal funding project. These hurricanes are not going away. Greenville residents have started a grass roots effort to make these projects possible. we will see if these efforts will yield resutts . Like - Reply 4 hr i Facebook Commenis Piugin hipivanunensobserver.comfopinionop-oderticle 106495162 hintror016 North Carcina should bute upto proven foding | News & Observer fitplhnwnensbserver.combpiviontop-edlaricletOB495 162m!