Governor Roy Cooper Directs $145 Million for Western North Carolina Flood Levees and Stream Gauges

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) Director Will Ray announced on Monday the distribution of $145 million in state disaster mitigation funding from the North Carolina Disaster Recovery and Resilience Reserve to reconstruct damaged river levees, excavate high-flow flood bypass channels, and install 180 automated acoustic river telemetry gauges across eighteen western mountain counties.

The funding responds to increasing severe weather and tropical remnant downpours in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where steep terrain and narrow valleys generate rapid flash-flood surges that wash out riverbanks, destroy bridges, and threaten downtown commercial districts in mountain towns like Canton, Brevard, and Marshall.

Engineering Resilient Mountain River Basins The $145 million state allocation finances:

• Mountain Levee and Floodwall Reconstruction: $75 million rebuilding engineered rip-rap levees, reinforced concrete floodwalls, and stormwater retention ponds along the French Broad and Pigeon Rivers.
• Nature-Based Floodplain Reconnection: $45 million restoring 45 miles of river meanders, reconnecting historical wetland floodplains to dissipate rushing flood energy naturally.
• Automated Flood Inundation Telemetry Network: $25 million installing 180 automated solar-powered acoustic radar stream gauges transmitting instant water level alerts directly into county 911 dispatch and public weather networks.

"Western North Carolina's mountain communities have shown incredible strength and resilience in the face of severe storms, but they need the infrastructure in place to protect lives and property before disaster strikes," Governor Roy Cooper said during an announcement in Asheville. "By investing $145 million to rebuild levees, restore floodplains, and install modern early warning gauges, we are helping our mountain towns withstand future storms and keeping North Carolinians safe."

County emergency directors, town managers, and river conservation non-profits praised the funding package, noting that real-time stream gauges give first responders and residents up to 45 additional minutes of evacuation lead time during sudden mountain flash-flood events.