Strengthening Resilience in North Carolina’s Communities

Hurricane Matthew and its aftermath underscore the urgent need to find ways to encourage communities to think differently about how they prepare for disasters and how they can become more resilient. Part of this is having data and information that can spark realistic conversations about a community’s future. Another part is having the tools to turn these conversations into concrete actions to improve long-term resilience. This is the focus of a research project on community and regional resilience underway at the School of Government in conjunction with colleagues at the University of Missouri. Back in September 1999, North Carolina was hit by Hurricane Floyd. Some $3.5 billion in damages were inflicted on the state’s communities including the destruction of over 4,000 homes that were uninsured or under-insured. Hurricane Floyd also revealed significant weaknesses in available flood hazard data and mapping. One year later, the State of North Carolina entered into an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) known as the Cooperating Technical State agreement – the first in the nation. This gave the state the primary responsibility for preparing Flood Insurance Rate Maps for all North Carolina communities for the National Flood Insurance Program. The agreement called for updating and digitizing data for new flood hazard maps so as to improve forecasting and floodplain management. It also heralded closer cooperation and coordination across multiple Federal and start agencies. Since then, North Carolina has felt the impact of five more hurricanes that have been designated as major disasters, the latest of which was Hurricane Matthew [...]