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In 1999, Hurricane Floyd caused flooding in many areas of southeast Kinston near the Adkin Branch of the Neuse River. The Free Press File Photo<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n The storm\u2019s costliest impacts stemmed from river flooding in eastern North Carolina, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s National Centers for Environmental Information. The state hadn\u2019t seen such devastation from inland flooding since 1999, with Hurricane Floyd.<\/p>\n \u201cMatthew made it popular again in eastern North Carolina to start thinking about flood mitigation,\u201d Stephenson says. \u201cIt flooded everything east of Raleigh, all the way to the coast. Smithfield was not passable; I couldn\u2019t get to my office, and I don\u2019t live but five or six miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n North Carolina was still recovering from Matthew when Hurricane Florence arrived in 2018. Its drenching rains caused rivers to overtop their banks, crushing many previous record flood heights. The storm caused more than 2,500 road closures, again including sections of Interstates 95 and 40.<\/p>\n Short-term closures occurred because of standing water and overtopping from streams. Meanwhile, road washouts that required repairs or complete reconstruction forced long-term closures.<\/p>\n Hurricanes Floyd, Matthew, and Florence together cost the state tens of billions of dollars, mainly because of damages from major flooding in the Neuse, Cape Fear, Lumber, Cashie, and Tar-Pamlico river basins of the Coastal Plain.<\/p>\n As the climate warms, North Carolinians can likely expect more frequent and severe inland flooding, fueled by more frequent, intense precipitation, according to the North Carolina Climate Science Report<\/a>, released this past March by the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies.<\/p>\n To better understand transportation-related impacts and other problems associated with Coastal Plain flooding, North Carolina Sea Grant and NC State University\u2019s Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department collaborated with the N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT), N.C. Emergency Management (NCEM), and local governments on a multifaceted study now wrapping up. The team also investigated potential mitigation strategies.<\/p>\n Their research centered on three municipalities in the Neuse River basin: Smithfield, Goldsboro, and Kinston. \u201cThey had suffered a lot in the last couple floods,\u201d says NCDOT\u2019s LeiLani Paugh of the communities. \u201cThey had reached out to DOT, they had reached out to other officials.\u201d<\/p>\n Stephenson, a self-described \u201ceastern North Carolina boy,\u201d is an active community member. \u201cI\u2019ve been interested in and concerned about the flood issue for a long time,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is a major problem for eastern North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n The Neuse River begins at Falls Lake Reservoir Dam in the Piedmont and empties more than 200 miles later into Pamlico Sound. Its course traces rolling hills and eroded valleys that transition to sand hills and more level land at a geographic feature known as the fall line, or fall zone.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as you get in the Coastal Plain, there\u2019s really not a lot of relief to speak of,\u201d says Jonathan Page, a hydraulic engineer who was part of the study team.<\/p>\n In rivers, the fall line manifests as rapids, which prevent boats from navigating farther upstream. As North Carolina developed, the fall line significantly affected where people settled, according to the Encyclopedia of North Carolina<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fall line was a first frontier,\u201d wrote the journalist T. Edward Nickens<\/a> for Our State<\/em> in 2016. \u201cThe river shallows made for convenient crossings \u2014 first for Native Americans, and then for settlers, and later for bridges that carried cars across the rivers. It was the place where towns were planted.\u201d<\/p>\n As it flows eastward from the fall line, the Neuse flattens, and the floodplain significantly widens. By virtue of their location, parts of Smithfield, Goldsboro, and Kinston exist in that floodplain.<\/p>\n As many North Carolinians know all too well, flooding imperils life, health, and livelihoods, in part because it can debilitate transportation infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cRoad closures \u2014 especially extended road closures, when the road is completely washed away \u2014 have big impacts,\u201d says Barbara Doll, an extension specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant and NC State faculty member, who led the study.<\/p>\n The Neuse River flows from the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain, where it empties into Pamlico Sound. Lower Neuse River Basin Association<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n To kick off their project in 2018, Doll\u2019s team first needed to familiarize themselves with how land use and land cover have evolved over time in each study area. They asked questions such as, What\u2019s the soil like? How have rainfall patterns changed? To develop a detailed picture, the researchers used geospatial data; historical precipitation and discharge records; satellite imagery; soil surveys; and topographic data.<\/p>\n Then they hosted stakeholder meetings in Smithfield, Goldsboro, and Kinston. At each workshop, they invited local officials, emergency responders, utility operators, and other specialists to identify locations where they were concerned about flooding, with a focus on the transportation network. Doll\u2019s team also shared what they had learned in their background research.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really provided a unique opportunity to say, \u2018Hey, here\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing from all of the information, data, that we\u2019ve gathered; give us your thoughts and feedback,\u2019\u201d Page says.<\/p>\n That stakeholder feedback informed the scope of the study. \u201cWe really let what they said in those meetings drive a lot of what we did,\u201d Doll says.<\/p>\n During the workshops, stakeholders expressed concerns that various bridges were contributing to flooding in their municipalities.<\/p>\n More than 10 road, highway, and railroad bridges straddle the Neuse River between Smithfield and Kinston. Those bridges have embankments to elevate the road surface across the floodplain leading up to the river channel.<\/p>\n Embankments obstruct water flow on the floodplain. During an extreme event such as a hurricane, it\u2019s possible that embankments create a backwater effect that potentially exacerbates upstream flooding.<\/p>\n Doll\u2019s team decided to investigate the influence of bridges on water surface elevation using hydraulic modeling, a computational way of predicting flooding based on different scenarios. What if bridge span or elevation were increased, or an embankment were removed?<\/p>\n In Smithfield, they studied U.S. 301 and I-95 bridges and a railroad bridge. Near Goldsboro, they focused on the Arrington Bridge Road crossing. And in Kinston, they examined bridges along U.S. 70 (also called New Bern Avenue), King Street, Queen Street, and a railroad southeast of town.<\/p>\n Through modeling, they experimented with modifying one bridge or multiple in tandem. In Goldsboro and Kinston, they also tried removing bridges entirely.<\/p>\n In Kinston, researchers modeled how modifications to three road bridges and a railroad bridge would affect upstream flooding. N.C. Sea Grant\/NC State University Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n A cross section of the Neuse River at U.S. Highway 70 in Kinston. The bridge consists of two sections separated by an embankment. The blue line indicates the level of flooding at the bridge during Hurricane Matthew. If this crossing and the King Street and Queen Street bridges were substantially modified, water surface elevation upstream of U.S. 70 would decrease by an estimated 1.2 feet during a Matthew-scale event. Water would still overtop the bridge, as indicated by the red dashed line. N.C. Sea Grant\/NC State University Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Pink indicates flooding during a Matthew-scale event if the U.S. 70, King Street and Queen Street bridges were modified. The extent is only slightly less than the flooding that would occur under existing conditions, highlighted in blue. N.C. Sea Grant\/NC State University Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Overall, modeling suggested that substantially altering bridges would have minimal impact on upstream flooding. For most of the bridge modification scenarios, the change in water surface upstream was less than a foot, and often less than half of a foot for a storm like Matthew.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw that investing millions and millions of dollars in increasing the spans of those bridges provided limited flood reduction benefits upstream,\u201d says Jack Kurki-Fox, a team member who worked on the hydraulic modeling. \u201cThis money could be better spent on strategic transportation infrastructure upgrades and moving people out of flood-prone areas through buyouts, especially given the likelihood of more extreme events in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n In many of the modeling scenarios, the primary reason bridge modification had limited advantages appears to stem from the very nature of the surrounding environment. Because the Coastal Plain gradually slopes toward the sea, rising floodwaters move sluggishly eastward. The resulting backwater eclipses any limited relief on upstream flooding from bridge modification, according to Doll.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many areas, the river itself is a relatively small channel when compared to its wide floodplain,\u201d Doll says. \u201cDuring these huge flows, the water is already spread way out onto the floodplain downstream of the bridges. So, even if the bridges were modified, the flow is blocked by all the water that is pooled downstream.\u201d<\/p>\n Top:<\/strong> A postcard from 1925 features a view of downtown Smithfield. Middle: <\/strong>A postcard circa 1905-1915 shows a business district in Goldsboro. Bottom:<\/strong>\u00a0A postcard circa 1915-1930 depicts a downtown intersection in Kinston. Wilson Library\/UNC-Chapel Hill<\/p><\/div>\n Smithfield, Goldsboro, and Kinston also reported severe flash flooding along tributary creeks to the Neuse River.<\/p>\n In many cases the flooding \u2014 which often occurs much earlier than when the river crests \u2014 forces road closures and restricts access to important areas of town. As the river discharge peaks, it creates backwater that floods the creeks again.<\/p>\n Doll\u2019s team inventoried culverts and bridges along all tributaries that experience flash flooding that had been identified by stakeholders. Their aim was to determine if any updates could alleviate flooding.<\/p>\n They found that most structures were in decent condition. To have any effect on flood mitigation, costly modifications \u2014 namely, raising roads \u2014 would be necessary.<\/p>\n Another common concern in all three municipalities was that development upstream in and around Raleigh has worsened flooding in their communities during large rain events. As the thinking goes, more impervious surfaces cause greater amounts of runoff that eventually wends its way downstream.<\/p>\n The team found through modeling that development near the state capital isn\u2019t a major culprit. A large rain event in the Neuse River basin will create runoff regardless of where the precipitation falls.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you get 10 to 15 inches of rain covering a large portion of the watershed, it runs off of everything, especially when the ground is already wet. It doesn\u2019t have to fall on the pavement and developed areas of Raleigh,\u201d says Dan Line, who modeled watershed hydrology for the study. \u201cIn fact, much of the rain during Hurricane Matthew fell on Johnston County and areas southeast of Raleigh.\u201d<\/p>\n Line also investigated how future urban sprawl south and east of Raleigh might contribute to downstream flooding. His modeling showed that continued buildout would result in only a moderate rise in peak flow. Indeed, most of that area is farmland, which already generates substantial runoff when fully saturated.<\/p>\n Falls Lake Reservoir, which in part provides drinking water to the City of Raleigh, was a hot topic as well. The team confirmed that the water body doesn\u2019t contribute to downstream flooding, however. In fact, says hydraulic engineer Jonathan Page, \u201cthe primary purpose and overwhelming majority of the storage within the lake is used for flood control.\u201d<\/p>\n The very fact that Smithfield, Goldsboro, and Kinston lie along a floodplain makes a degree of flooding inevitable. And the problem will likely get worse.<\/p>\n For example, Doll\u2019s team also looked at the effect of future storms on Neuse River flooding. Using climate data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and assistance from the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, they found that, under warmer conditions, another hurricane like Matthew would produce more rainfall, resulting in flooding of greater extent and depth along the river.<\/p>\n As Doll\u2019s study suggests, certain infrastructure updates, such as modifying bridges, would have virtually no effect on alleviating flooding, while other upgrades, like raising roads, are cost- and technically prohibitive. Short of moving whole communities to higher ground, what other options exist?<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t just leave people hanging,\u201d Paugh of NC DOT says.<\/p>\n A view of the Neuse River from N.C. Highway 581 in Goldsboro, after heavy rains. Robert Tucker\/CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n There are various strategies to consider. For instance, early warning systems that indicate when important routes will flood could prove vital to steering people away from dangerous streets. For their part, Doll\u2019s team investigated locations where new stream gauges could be installed as part of an early-warning network.<\/p>\n In response to prolonged closures of important thoroughfares, the concept of \u201cresilient routes\u201d also has emerged. Instead of attempting to fix all roads, so the idea goes, attention should be on identifying critical transportation routes that experience minimal flooding, and then upgrading them to withstand extreme events, such as 500-year or 1,000-year floods.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t pick every road up out of the floodway,\u201d Paugh says. \u201cWhat are those safe routes, and can we make those more resilient?\u201d Such a network would provide access to important areas, such as hospitals, during extreme flooding, as well as enable emergency response, evacuations, and supply delivery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not going to prevent flooding,\u201d Page says, \u201cbut it is going to maintain access and continue to allow those emergency services to occur.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, one relatively simple approach to minimize damage from flooding is to curb development in susceptible areas. For example, an earlier study commissioned by NCEM found that from 2001 to 2016, development in the 100-year floodplain increased by an average of 17% in Smithfield, Goldsboro, and Kinston.<\/p>\n To help those communities plan better, Doll\u2019s team enlisted researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to review floodplain ordinances across the country in order to make recommendations to the municipalities on how to modify their own language.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Doll\u2019s study is one element of a larger, ongoing effort by partners such as NC DOT to address resilience in the face of climate change. \u201cIt\u2019s not just an engineering issue, it\u2019s not just an environmental or a natural resource issue. The impacts, the problems, and the solutions all have multidisciplinary components,\u201d Paugh says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat study is not necessarily the end \u2014 it\u2019s maybe the beginning of additional studies and collaboration,\u201d adds Stephen Morgan, the state hydraulics engineer for NC DOT. \u201cI think through that process we will continue being a leader in forward-thinking approaches to our most challenging problems.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on the Neuse River flood mitigation study, and for details on improving resilience to flooding, go to go.ncsu.edu\/flood-mitigation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This article relies in large part on summaries and reports written by Jack Kurki-Fox, Dan Line, and Barbara Doll.<\/em><\/p>\n Durwood Stephenson\u2019s cell phone lit up with calls when Hurricane Matthew battered North Carolina in October 2016. As the director of the U.S. Highway 70 Corridor Commission, he was a go-to for eastern North…<\/p>\nLAY OF THE LAND<\/h2>\n
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OVER THE RIVER<\/h2>\n
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BEYOND BRIDGES<\/h2>\n
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ALTERNATE ROUTES<\/h2>\n
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\nfrom the Summer 2020 issue of Coastwatch<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"