After more than a year, a statewide flood-planning tool remains in development, but North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality officials said this week that their “goal is to begin helping some of the most impacted communities as soon as possible,” and they plan to use the nearly $100 million released to the agency in the last month to get there.
NCDEQ Secretary Elizabeth Biser outlined Tuesday for the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, Subcommittee on Hurricane Response and Recovery, the progress made on the North Carolina Flood Resiliency Blueprint, which the agency was tasked with creating in 2021. She and department Blueprint Manager Todd Kennedy also detailed how the department is spending state dollars.
Held in the legislative building auditorium with a handful of people in attendance and about 130 online, DEQ officials were joined for the hearing by AECOM Senior Program Manager Dave Canaan and John Dorman, who oversees strategic funding and disaster management. AECOM is the consulting firm contracted for the blueprint project.
Read the rest of the story at Costal Review, here.