A subcommittee of the State Disaster Recovery Task Force, the Environmental Preservation Recovery Support Function (RSF) meets quarterly and has made several policy, planning and funding recommendations to NCORR and other state leadership. In addition to recommending funding the development of the NC Flood Resiliency Blueprint, the RSF has recommended NCORR allocate CDBG-Mitigation planning funds to support:
- The NC Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) Division of Coastal Management’s Resilient Coastal Communities Program. The program provides technical and financial assistance to help coastal communities overcome barriers in resilience and adaptation planning, and to boost local government capacity.
- A Statewide Probable Maximum Precipitation Study by NC DEQ to understand the likely “worst-case” scenario for rain or snow. The data is used by state and local governments and other entities to design water infrastructure such as dams, culverts and drainage networks, and ensure safety and functionality.
- An updated NC DEQ low flow (drought) study. Low flow statistics help decision-makers understand how much water is available for drinking and other uses.
- The development of a Natural Infrastructure Flood Mitigation Program within the NC DEQ Division of Mitigation Services. The program seeks to mitigate flooding using natural infrastructure and constructed systems that mimic natural processes.
- North Carolina’s contribution to the Transportation Pooled Study, which will update the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlas 14 precipitation intensity, duration and frequency estimates. This data is used by the public and private sectors to design everything from drainage for public highways and bridges to stormwater infrastructure for residential development.
- The State Climate Office of North Carolina (NCSCO)'s work to update the statewide Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves to account for climate change and better understand future risk, as well as identify future flood risk hotspots outside of FEMA floodplains, and create a better system for analyzing, displaying, disseminating and storing the data.
- The NCSCO in developing a suite of climate projections at smaller geographic scales, such as single watersheds, for use by local and regional stakeholders. These projections account for drought, fire danger, heat, heavy precipitation, sea level rise, sunny day flooding and cold, and are hosted on the NC Resilience Exchange.