North Carolina prepares for flooding risk from Debby

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Following Gov. Roy Cooper’s declaration of a state of emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Debby impacting North Carolina, state leaders said they’re taking a variety of steps to prepare for what the storm will bring this week.

Debby is expected to stall over waters near South Carolina’s coast on Tuesday for several days before lifting into the Tar Heel State, with the center reaching central North Carolina on Thursday and Friday. Days of passing heavy rain bands mean the threat of flooding later this week.

“We’re concerned about flooding,” Cooper said. “We know in southeastern North Carolina, people have been victimized by heavy rains before. A number of these areas are already wet. The ground is saturated. We don’t know how much wind is going to end up coming with this event, but we know there will be significant rain.”

Cooper noted emergency management teams are working now to strategically place crews in advance of the storm to respond to flooding-related emergencies and other situations that may arise.

“This is a very slow-moving storm,” the governor said. “There’s time to make sure they analyze what’s happening and they put the resources where they’re needed most.”

Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said he’s been in touch with law enforcement officials across the state who have emergency response teams getting ready.

“We’re all hoping that we’ll dodge a bullet,” Causey said. “We all remember Hurricane Florence when we had 23 southeastern counties [hit]. We had loss of life, a lot of loss of property.”

Causey encouraged people to store documents in a safe place, such as a fireproof safe or a bank deposit box. He said while it’s too late to get flood insurance for the storm, he encourages people to get a policy, noting it takes 30 days for it to go into effect.

Following the devastating flooding from Hurricane Florence in 2018, Causey said many homeowners faced further struggles because they lacked flood insurance.

“We learned the hard way back in Hurricane Florence,” he said. “When Hurricane Florence hit, we found that very few people even in coastal counties had flood insurance. We had over 80,000 homeowners that filed insurance claims who got nothing because homeowners’ policies do not cover flood insurance.”

Since that time, Causey said the Department of Insurance has worked with professionals, such as real estate and insurance agents, to educate them on the issue to try to increase the number of people obtaining flood insurance policies.

“We’ve seen a 25 percent increase in the number of people who now have flood insurance,” Causey said. “We’re way behind where we ought to be, but it is moving in the right direction.”

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler also added that his agency is preparing to help farmers. It’s already been a challenging year for many of them, given the drought conditions that have affected crops.

“I know farmers that have lost total corn crops from the drought and when the rain comes, it’s too much rain,” Causey said.

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