Federal help for flooded houses?

With few options left to rid neighborhoods of standing water, state and Kitty Hawk officials are looking at a federal program to acquire houses that are hopelessly swamped.

So far, the town has identified about 26 properties that it believes might be candidates under the Federal Emergency Management Agency program, said Kitty Hawk Town Manager John Stockton.

The program, Stockton said, would not condemn the houses but offer the opportunity for owners to apply. If they qualify, they would be offered fair market value, he said.

“Basically we have to see if there are people who are interested in the program,” Stockton said.

The program is a form of mitigation under the federal entity that also manages the National Flood Insurance Program. Mitigation is aimed at breaking cycles of repeated damage, public hazard and financial losses, according to the FEMA Web site.

Among other things, property owners would be required to prove a history of damage, Stockton said. He said the state Department of Emergency Management is investigating the possibility of using the program.

The houses are on Rabbit Hollow, Tateway Road, Goosander Street and Poseidon Street, Stockton said.

Stockton met last week with representatives of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the state Division of Emergency Management and state Senate President Marc Basnight’s office. Stockton said that Basnight’s office had received calls from Kitty Hawk property owners seeking help.

Options for pumping water out of flooded neighborhoods are limited, Stockton said in his weekly newsletter. Because environmental laws are so strict, pumping the water into the ocean probably would not be practical. Sending it to the sounds would mean filtering the water.

With persistent rain and winter storms, standing water is a problem throughout the Outer Banks. The water table is at the surface and the rain water has nowhere to go. Kill Devil Hills is dealing with some of the same problems, mainly in the Ocean Acres area.

Standing water has also been chronic along some stretches of the U.S. 158 bypass in Kitty Hawk. Stockton said that the saturated swales along the road are not drainage ditches and can eventually absorb most rain water under normal conditions. But the wet winter has left them brimming.

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