Surf City receives grant for over $520k to help with flood mitigation

SURF CITY, NC (WWAY) — North Carolina Emergency Management awarded a $520,100 grant to the Town of Surf City for flood mitigation. The funds will be used to cover the costs of acquisition and installation of a floodwater diversion and infiltration system.

This new infiltration chamber system will remove standing water from the roadways which has been an ongoing issue for numerous years and release it back into the ground along the roadway in the 1800 block of South Shore Drive.

Emergency Management Director, James Horne says “We are grateful to have been awarded this grant and look forward to getting this project underway, bringing us closer to achieving the overall goals set forth within the Flood Mitigation Project along the South Shore Drive corridor.”

Floodwater that stands on the roadway creates a traffic and safety hazard and limits emergency response as well as causes damage to roadways, vehicles, public and private property.

Once installed, the system is expected to have an infiltration rate of 1.52 cubic feet of water per second, with a storage capacity of 26,000 cubic feet of water which means the system should allow for a noticeable reduction in the amount (depth) of standing water, as well as a reduction in overall time water stands, along the roadway. It is anticipated that the project will take approximately 20 months to complete.

Thank you to North Carolina Emergency Management for making these funds available for this critical project and the North Carolina Department of Transportation for their ongoing assistance to see this project completed.