ECC, along with 3 other councils of government, is working with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety on a Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Capability & Capacity Building project. The focus is part of a 2-year program to work with local governments and The NC Emergency Management to identify and fully develop 100 individual flood mitigation projects, secure voluntary homeowner participation, and provide administration of such projects in our region.

The ECC portion of the project involves Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Onslow, Pamlico, and Wayne counties. These counties were identified by the State as having the highest concentration of properties insured by the National Flood Insurance Program with repetitive flood damage.

Eligible jurisdictions include counties, cities and towns. Communities applying for FMA funding must be an NFIP participation community.

Factors affecting programming will include jurisdictional decisions for the level of program funding, whether to involve the ECC (which is at no cost to participating communities),or engaging a fee-bases consultant, and sequencing through properties that have had severe repetitive losses (SRL) as defined by FEMA.

The FMA program offers the potential to elevate properties, cost sharing between owner and FEMA that is dependent upon a property's categorization of either severe repetitive loss or repetitive loss (as determined by FEMA), with the homeowner's cost share not to exceed 25% in any circumstance.

The award and funding process is lengthy and will require patience by potential participants.

If you are interested in learning more about this program, contact ECC Senior Community Planner, Carlton Gideon, at cgideon@eccog.org or at 252-638-3185, ext. 3018.