North Carolina Flood Warning System Could Win A National Award

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has a new way to keep an eye on waterways that could flood the state's most important highways.  Now, the North Carolina flood warning system could win a national award.

According to the NCDOT, the system relies on a network of 400 river and stream gauges.  It has been in place for just over a year.  The system allows the NCDOT to analyze, map and communicate in real-time any flood risks to roads, bridges and culverts.  That information goes directly to NCDOT maintenance staff tasked with responding to problem areas.  The public also receives the information via the the state's  DriveNC.gov website.

NCDOT engineer Kurt Golembesky told Spectrum News the system is already paying off.  “It’s saving lives,” Golembesky said. “It’s allowing us to prepare for, recover from events and our district engineers and maintenance staff as well, to do their job more efficiently and effectively.”

Just this year, the NCDOT used information from the flood warning system to shut down a bridge in Polk County before it fully collapsed.

Recently, the American Association of State Highway Transportation recognized North Carolina's flood warning system as a top 12 finalist in the 2023 America’s Transportation Awards competition.  Meanwhile, other states have been inquiring about implementing similar systems.

“We talk to Virginia regularly. Oregon, Colorado, to just make them aware of what we’re doing,” Golembesky said. “I do trainings to show what we’re doing and what our tools can do, so it’s definitely something that the other states look at and they think would be great if we could do this as well.”

North Carolina's flood warning system could win $10,000 if it gets the most votes.  NCDOT officials say the money will be donated if North Carolina wins.  You can vote through November 14 here.