18-04-2025
Stormwater and drainage infrastructure improvements coming to Greenville
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT)– The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Flood Resiliency Blueprint (Blueprint) is working with North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) to implement infrastructure projects to reduce flooding and associated damage.
DEQ is providing over $3.9 million for three NCEM projects that will target flooding in Greenville, Fayetteville and Sanford.
Greenville calls this project the Drainage Improvements and Stream Restoration at East Fire Tower Road. It is estimated to cost $12.9 million total.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocated $9.2 million to the project in September.
The most recent grant from Disaster Relief matching the DEQ's Blueprint grant at $1.5 million. With those grants and local stormwater and utility fee, this enables the project to proceed.
The flood resiliency project, located in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin, includes improving culverts and using nature-based solutions to mitigate flood risk to nearby communities.
The improvements are for the Fork Swamp watershed in the area of Paramore Park and Fire Tower Road. The plan is to put in a larger culvert system to allow stream and stormwater to flow under the street without running on top of the road, and to lower flood elevation of water during those heavy rain events, decreasing impact to these homes along the stream.
26 properties will be removed from the 100-year floodplain, meaning in the event of a once-in-a-lifetime disaster, these properties will not be at the same risk of flooding as they were before.
'All infrastructure is designed to carry a certain amount of volume of water and if we get more rain than it's designed to carry it's still going to exceed that capacity and flood,' Daryl Norris, Greenville Stormwater Management Division Head said.
'A project like this does not stop 100% of flooding. However, it will lower that elevation of flooding with those heavy storm events that we've got. So, while it may not completely eliminate all flooding in the area sometimes a matter of inches can make the difference between water coming into your house or not,' Norris said.
DEQ is partnering with NCEM to leverage its ongoing work as part of the Disaster Relief and Mitigation Grant Program. The partnership allows DEQ to quickly fund effective projects through an existing grant program with a proven track record of project implementation and long-term sustainability.
'We know that storms will keep coming with increasing frequency and intensity, and it's critical that we build more resiliently,' DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson said.
'Our partnership with NC Emergency Management on these projects will help reduce flooding and damage and make North Carolina a safer place for people to live, work, and raise a family,' Wilson said.
This project is currently in the design and permitting phase expected to last for about a year. Once fully approved the construction will take approximately 18 months to two years to complete, meaning this project will be fully completed by late 2027, early 2028.
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