Wells bring some relief from flooding

An emergency project using a series of well points has drawn down the water table by as much as 5 feet in Ocean Acres, where water after heavy rain had been flowing into the first floors of some homes.

Town engineer Pete Burkhimer told the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners that since the work started last weekend, a block-square area had seen a drop in the water table ranging from 5 feet to 18 inches.

He said the area where the water table is dropping will spread outward as the project continues.

An unusually wet fall and winter has pushed the water table to the surface in much of the Outer Banks, and storm-water drainage has become a major problem.

Kitty Hawk is looking at a FEMA program that would acquire houses considered chronically in danger of flooding and turn them over to the town. The town and the North Carolina Department of Transportation are discussing ways to get water moving alongside stretches of U.S 158.

The $25,000 project in Kill Devil Hills is being done in an area bound by West Acres Drive, Burns Drive, Bell Avenue and Harrington Avenue. Lines connect a series of wells to a pipeline, and the water is pumped out and sent to a drainage ditch in a nearby neighborhood.

Ocean Acres has no drainage system and it is at the foot of a dune line. On Wednesday, the Board of Commissioners approved moving ahead with preliminary work on building a drainage system. That will include examining the topography of the area.

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