Monday’s Bertie
County Board of Commissioners regular
meeting included the initial report for the
Cashie River Flood Mitigation Study being
conducted by NC State University.
Immediately
following the flooding and devastation from
Tropical Storm Julia and Hurricane Matthew,
Windsor Mayor Jim Hoggard and Bertie County
Chairman John Trent spent countless hours
reaching out to various regional resources
for technical assistance in an effort to
take a long term look and the flooding in
the Cashie River basin.
On May 19th,
2017 the Golden Leaf Foundation grant
administration staff along with Executive
Director Dan Gerlach visited Bertie County
to discuss disaster relief priorities.
Three County Commissioners represented
Bertie County including Vice Chairman
Ernestine Bazemore, Commissioner Tammy Lee
and Commissioner Ron Wesson who pressed for
funding consideration to assist our
community to replace critical facilities
such as the public library and cooperative
extension offices. Mayor Hoggard made
the case for grant money to support the
initial research study for the Cashie River.
On June 1st,
2017 the Golden Leaf Foundation awarded two
significant grants to Bertie County.
$500,000 is available for planning, design
and engineering for a new public library and
cooperative extension offices to be
co-located in a joint use facility in
downtown Windsor. The Board of
Commissioners is currently in the process of
selecting a design team from a pool of six
firms who responded to a request for
qualifications in late August.
Secondly, the Golden Leaf Foundation has
approved $72,207 in grant funding to support
the first of two studies of the Cashie River
Basin.
Dr. Barbara Doll of
NC State University is coordinating a
research project entitled the “Town of
Windsor Flood Reduction Feasibility Study”
which will identify engineering options and
best management practices targeted at
reducing runoff and surface flow reaching
the Cashie River from the watershed and its
tributaries, and for reducing the direct
flow of water into the town during river
flooding events.
In the presentation
to the Board of Commissioners on Monday, Dr.
Doll reviewed NCSU’s team effort to examine
existing flood models which are scientific
predictors of the Cashie River and its
tributaries using both NC Emergency
Management data and NC Department of
Transportation historical records, with a
specific focus on 6.2 mile stretch of the
river through Windsor. NCSU’s analysis
also builds on the “flood inundation mapping
and alert network” to establish the actual
flooding experienced in both Tropical Storm
Julia and Hurricane Matthew to verify the
“ground truth” of these scientific models as
reflect in the graphics attached with this
email.
As the study
continues, Dr. Doll and her team of
engineers will examine additional analysis
of historical precipitation and river
discharge records, and seek to identify
temporary upland water storage locations
(former millponds) in order to slow the flow
of water during storm events.
The final report
from NCSU is due January 31, 2018.
The second flood
mitigation report is jointly supported by
the Bertie County Board of Commissioners and
the Town of Windsor, and will provide a
broad examination of the regional impacts on
the Cashie River and surrounding waterways.
Also approved by the Board of County
Commissioners on October 2nd was
a budget amendment in the amount of $50,000
and a Memorandum of Agreement with the Town
of Windsor to engage NC LOW (NC Land of
Water), a non-profit educational
organization led by Dr. Stanley Riggs of
East Carolina University.
ECU’s Dr. Stanly
Riggs has assembled a planning group to
examine flood impacts along the Cashie River
drainage basin, and assess the hydrologic
systems of the Roanoke River (Bertie
County’s western boundary) and the Chowan
River (Bertie County’s eastern boundary) by
establishing internal and regional
monitoring sites measuring the complex flow
of water toward the Albemarle Sound.
This effort is ongoing and both the County
and the Town of Windsor believe that Dr.
Riggs’ study is critical to determining the
most appropriate sustainable solutions.
These two science
based initiatives provide a unique blend of
regional hydrologic analysis and engineering
recommendations to 1) better understand the
changing dynamics of Bertie County’s river
drainage systems, and 2) produce strategies
for upstream water impoundment, peak flow
reduction and diversion of flood water which
will ultimately mitigate flood damage for
the County and in the Town of Windsor.
