Agenda - 10-19-1999 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM TO: Orange County Board of Commissioners ohn Link, County Manager FROM: Rod Visser, Assistant County Manager DATE: October 8, 1999 RE: Citizens Request for Assistance Following Heritage Hills Flooding As you no doubt read in the local papers a few weeks ago, .some of the residents in the Heritage Hills subdivision (located just north of the Chatham County line near the intersection of 15-501 and Smith Level Road) suffered significant damage from flash flooding following heavy rains on September 27-28. Flooding stems from runoff collected in Price Creek, which originates in northern Chatham County and discharges into University Lake. I believe that three families had severe damage to their homes, while others had varying degrees of property damage. As you may know, I live in Heritage Hills (fortunately for me, at the higher, drier east end). I attended a community meeting about a week after the flood, which gave citizens a forum to find out what help might be available. Nick Waters and Warren Faircloth attended this meeting also, as did representatives from NCDOT, FEMA, and the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management. Citizens received explanations of some of the grant programs for which they might be eligible. There was frank discussion about certain things that various agencies, including Orange County, could and could- not do. I expect that a number of my neighbors will attend tonight's BOCC meeting, to ask that a spokesperson be allowed to speak briefly on this "matter not on the printed agenda". I think their primary interests lie in continued support from the County to the extent feasible, including submission of a grant application; additional staff assessment of their situation, including any technical engineering advice they can get about ways to reduce flooding impacts; collaboration with NCDOT in improving water flow and removing built up sediment; and coordination with Chatham County regarding erosion control concerns. I think the main thing we can do on behalf of flood victims is to file a grant application on their behalf with the State Emergency Management Division. Under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), funds are provided through FEMA for various approaches to preventing the recurrence of future flood damage. This category of grant must be submitted by the County -individual citizens cannot apply for it directly. My understanding is that throughout North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, the administering agencies' preference is for "acquisition", which basically means buying homes and property likely to flood again in the future and restoring the property to natural or near natural conditions. There are other measures which can be pursued, such as "elevation", or raising residences and/or their infrastructure higher above flood levels. I understand that grant awards are based on some kind of cost/benefit analysis applied by FEMA and/or State EM folks. Nick Waters (and his staff) in particular have been very responsive to Heritage Hills residents during and after the flooding. Staff are prepared to continue providing what support we can to them, particularly in assisting them with the HMGP process.