Flooding and Social Inequality in North Carolina

Rising Waters

We studied the interactions between the increasingly frequent flooding events that occur in North Carolina, somewhat focusing on Lumberton, NC. We found that although many solutions have been proposed to reform flood insurance system and preventative measures, a lack of long-term planning, overly qualitative evaluations, and top-down federal reforms have led to inequalities in community resiliency to floods, mostly along socioeconomic lines. We conducted interviews with professors and insurance professionals, and also drew conversations with people in Lumberton and our own lived experiences as North Carolinians. To supplement these conversations, we looked at federal policies, research papers, and news articles.

Presenters: UNC Students: Cynthia Dong, Ideliya Khismatova, Emme McManus (Warren Wilson College), Austin Snyder

How to connect:

Email: Cynthia Dong: xcynthia@live.unc.edu, Ideliya Khismatova: ideliya@live.unc.edu, Emme McManus: emme.mcmanus@gmail.com , Austin Snyder: asnyder@live.unc.edu