During its Tuesday, Oct. 7 meeting, the Wrightsville Beach Planning Board heard a presentation by North Carolina Sea Grant’s Spencer Rogers regarding the recently released preliminary flood zone maps.
Since the maps were released, town officials and residents have discussed whether the preliminary maps are an improvement over existing maps. With more than 30 years’ experience helping private property owners, builders, designers and governmental agencies develop hurricane-resistant construction methods, Rogers said his criteria for determining whether the maps are an improvement differs from that of homeowners.
“Most people care about their own house,” he said. “Cheaper insurance is good, more expensive insurance is bad. That’s not how I see it.”
Rogers said he was most concerned with whether the construction standards determined by the maps were as accurate as possible.
He gave a brief history of the flood zone maps, describing how flooding from Hurricane Floyd in 1999 revealed many errors. The topography used to create the maps was inaccurate, so new maps were created using a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers model that was more fine-tuned than anything previously available.
Rogers showed the planning board the current flood zone maps and the preliminary maps, pointing out areas that had changed. Several locations in the town were rezoned from VE — areas likely to see a 3-18 foot wave during a major hurricane — to AE, areas determined to be at less risk of flooding from wave action. He likened AE to still water flooding, like a lake, with the height reference the top of the floor as opposed to the lowest horizontal member with VE.
One of the main areas to change from VE to AE was a stretch of oceanfront land near Johnnie Mercer’s Pier. Rogers’ explanation caused several planning board members to speak up, questioning how a storm could cause 3-foot up to 18-foot waves to hit Harbor Island houses but not oceanfront properties.
“You can’t just look at one storm necessarily,” Rogers responded, explaining the angle at which a storm makes landfall could cause certain parts of the island to be hit harder than others.
“But every storm I’ve seen in 39 years of following hurricanes, the damage to the buildings has always been highest in buildings closest to the ocean,” Rogers admitted. “So I can’t explain [it].”
Vivian “Zeke” Partin asked whether FEMA would consider properties on an individual basis, or only a subdivision as a whole, but Rogers said that would involve the lengthy process of hiring a surveyor.
Appeals can be made during a 90-day period. Chairman Thomas “Ace” Cofer inquired about the process of a layperson challenging the elevation maps used by FEMA to develop the flood zones. Rogers said he believed FEMA would release the LIDAR (light detection and ranging) data for download on its website. Rogers will cover this same information with the board of aldermen on Thursday, Oct. 9, at its regularly scheduled meeting.
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