Digital flood maps ready for public review

Published 5:16 pm Wednesday, March 22, 2017

RALEIGH — On Tuesday and Wednesday, residents and business leaders in Hyde County will be able to review and discuss the latest flood hazard and flood risk data.

Now available digitally, preliminary flood-hazard information can be layered on top of the county’s parcel data, so property owners can better determine potential risks to their land. On Tuesday, the digital flood-hazard data will be shown at 5 p.m., followed by a brief presentation at the Hyde Government Center multipurpose room at 30 Oyster Creek Road in Swan Quarter. On Wednesday, the digital flood-hazard data will be shown at 5 p.m., followed by a brief presentation at the Ocracoke Community Center at 999 Irvin Garrish Highway in Ocracoke.

Residents also can access the flood hazard data online at fris.nc.gov/fris/. Digital flood-hazard data also can be viewed by calling Hyde County Building Inspections at 252-926-4372, or the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program at 919-825-2302.

Tuesday and Wednesday’s public meetings provide an opportunity for residents to see the results of the revised studies and new flood-hazard areas. County and municipal employees will be on hand to help residents locate particular properties from the flood hazard data and determine their level of flood risk. Representatives from the NCFMP will make a short presentation on the flood study process, how the new digital-hazard data can be used to reduce future flood losses and how the preliminary hazard data may impact flood insurance and floodplain management. Attendees also may see a demonstration of the North Carolina Flood Risk Information System. Following the presentation, state emergency management representatives will be available to answer questions about the hazard data-update process, flood insurance coverage and floodplain management.

The N.C. Floodplain Mapping Program was established in 2000 with a mandate to update flood hazard data for all 100 counties. Through a partnership with FEMA, the state was charged with creating and maintaining the Flood Insurance Study for all N.C. communities. Since 2003, the NCFMP has analyzed, updated and digitized the flood hazard data for all 100 counties and associated communities in the state. This preliminary flood-hazard data was developed based on local community requests for new flood-hazard risk studies for the updated streams. Please note that only those portions of the revised streams have been updated. Therefore, some communities in the county will not have new flood hazard data, although adjacent counties may have some updates due to the seamless statewide format for the mapping program.

For more information on an individual property’s flood risk, visit fris.nc.gov/fris/.