State releases flood action plan with 113 projects for Neuse River Basin, 29 flagged as high priority

When the Neuse rises, the measure of a flood plan is immediate: whether a hospital route stays open, a neighborhood drainage system holds, or a business can reopen. North Carolina has now identified 113 flood-resiliency actions for the Neuse River Basin, with 29 recommended as high-priority early steps. For residents from Goldsboro to Kinston to New Bern, the question is whether those first projects match the roads, homes, businesses and essential services that have gone under in past storms.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality released its final Neuse River Basin Action Strategy on July 21, 2026, through the Flood Resiliency Blueprint program. D. Reid Wilson, secretary of DEQ, called the strategy "the first of its kind in North Carolina," aimed at helping communities along the Neuse River corridor "keep their residents and critical infrastructure safe in the face of more frequent and severe flooding."

The 113 prioritized actions range from construction projects to policy changes, including stormwater system improvements, transportation upgrades, nature-based solutions and other policy actions. Structural projects include drainage and culvert improvements, roadway and critical-infrastructure upgrades, and floodproofing and elevation of critical facilities. Nonstructural proposals include building-level mitigation, early flood-warning systems and planning actions. Nature-based solutions include floodplain and stream restoration.

Of those actions, DEQ recommends moving first on 29 selected after additional evaluation and consultation with local leaders, considering local buy-in, feasibility, capacity, and potential impact and benefit. The strategy also incorporates Local Action Plans developed and submitted by local governments through the Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool.

For communities that endured Hurricane Floyd in 1999, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018, the critical question is whether the 29 high-priority projects reflect the vulnerabilities residents know firsthand. Related flood-mitigation work across the basin shows how those risks differ from one community to the next.

In Goldsboro, that work has evaluated transportation crossings, including Arrington Bridge Road, and their vulnerability during floods. The city saw a peak flood stage of 29.74 feet during Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, when the storm caused record flooding in Goldsboro and Kinston, exceeding the levels set by Floyd. A state-led stormwater wetland and detention-basin project at Wayne Community College has since been completed to reduce chronic flooding and help keep access to Wayne Memorial Hospital open during storms. It is the kind of practical outcome residents will use to judge whether the broader strategy protects critical routes and services.

In Kinston, flood-mitigation work has examined key transportation crossings, including U.S. 70, King Street (N.C. 11) and Queen Street (U.S. 258). Kinston reached a peak flood stage of 28.6 feet during Hurricane Matthew and experienced its third major flood in 21 years. A North Carolina resilience study also found substantial land in the middle Neuse Basin draining to Kinston that is suitable for natural-infrastructure measures, including wetland restoration, water farming and reforestation.

Farther downriver, New Bern received $367,500 for the Duffyfield Canal Restoration and Master Plan through Phase 3 engineering and design grants in fiscal year 2025-26. The project is intended to reduce erosion and flooding, improve water quality, restore wetlands and stabilize approximately 4,700 feet of canal in a disadvantaged neighborhood.

The question now is how quickly the plans become funded, built projects. The General Assembly authorized and allocated $96 million for Blueprint priority projects under Session Law 2021-180 in 2021. DEQ began implementing Flood Resiliency Blueprint projects in 2024 after the draft blueprint was completed and the funds were released. As of February 2026, the program had 81 projects totaling $40 million across its basin work.

The final Neuse strategy follows a public review process that began when DEQ released a draft on May 21, 2026. Public input was accepted until June 12, 2026, and the department held an information session on June 11 to gather feedback.

The Flood Resiliency Blueprint is a statewide program covering six priority river basins: Cape Fear, French Broad, Lumber, Neuse, Tar-Pamlico and White Oak. For residents who have sandbagged their homes through Floyd, Matthew and Florence, the test will be whether the 29 high-priority projects move from paper to construction on a timeline that matches the frequency of major floods—and whether completed work addresses the specific intersections, drainage systems and critical facilities that failed in past storms.