On a Thursday night in Whiteville, local resident and community organizer AC Cutler took me for a walk outside Saint Mark A.M.E. Zion Church. He led me to a small culvert — no bigger than three feet — running under Virgil Street.
"Why does it look like that?" he asked.
The culvert was almost completely blocked with tree roots, trash, and leaves. According to Cutler, a lot of culverts in Whiteville look just like this one, and they've looked that way for awhile.
"You can tell this is just stuff that has washed up, and that's it. It'll stay here. If you come here in several months, it'll still be there," he said.
Whiteville has struggled to manage flooding for as long as the city has been around. But lately, city officials and residents have been having a harder-than-normal time keeping their streets above water. Part of it is due to stronger weather patterns and Whiteville's layout, but much of it comes from the town's backed-up drainage system. Unfortunately, the solution is much more complex than clearing the drains.
Meeting at the church
On that Thursday night, a group of Whiteville residents met at the church to discuss flooding. Most attendees had experienced some form of flooding in their neighborhoods, particularly in Whiteville's southwest corner, like Lolita Staton, who said even light rains bring ponding to her driveway.
"Our cars are getting messed up. Our houses, our yards are tore up, you know?" she said. "And this is what we live with, and this is what we fear…. Anytime rain comes, this is what we fear," Staton said.
The issue largely stems from Whiteville's flat landscape. City manager Darren Currie said when the waterways back up, the water only needs to rise a little bit before it ponds over the roads in parts of Whiteville.
"There's only about three feet of elevation difference between the level of the water, and then you get to the level of the land," he said during the meeting. "[The water is] about 52 feet and then the level of land is about 54 to 55 [feet]."
Most of the flooding that occurs in Whiteville is what Currie calls "nuisance flooding," meaning the water is usually only backed up for half an hour or so. But even nuisance flooding causes serious problems for Whiteville residents, like potholes and erosion. During severe weather events, flooding in the city causes severe damage to buildings and roads, and sometimes strands residents in their homes.
Plus, the problem does appear to be getting worse. Whiteville Mayor Terry Mann said both severe weather events and regular rainstorms have supercharged over the years, putting a strain on the city's stormwater system.
"Somebody over here referenced that rain we had ten days ago that flooded west Whiteville," Mann said during the meeting. "Some parts of town got six inches in about an hour and 45 minutes, which is equivalent to almost a 100-year flood. I'm not trying to make excuses, but… no organization, no business, no development, no anything builds flood or stormwater [infrastructure] for 100-year floods. DOT builds it for 25 and 50. And so, you know, it's a multifaceted problem, and the biggest thing to me is, right now, the storms are getting worse."
Cleaning culverts
Whiteville residents can't control the weather, and they can't pick up the town and move it somewhere less swampy. The first line of defense against flooding has been keeping the stormwater drainage system clear. But it's not as simple as cleaning a culvert.
Cutler told WHQR that many residents lack the time or tools to clear culverts on their property. If that's the case, the city can't help.
"The city will tell you that they can't go on private property," he said.
"We get a lot of complaints about people's backyards flooding, and you go back there and there's a ditch back there that the city didn't dig," Mann said. "But you can't spend taxpayer money on private property."
In theory, the county or city could use eminent domain on the areas with the most important stormwater infrastructure — meaning, they could buy up small parts of land where the ditches are, and then keep them clear. New Hanover County has created similar easements to manage drainage. But Currie is not so keen on the idea. He said it would be costly and involve a lot of legal red tape.
"We would have to jump through a lot of hoops," he said.
DOGE cuts
Even if the government did create stormwater easements, they'd still have to contend with the main waterway: Mollie's Branch, which runs off the Waccamaw River and directly through Whiteville. Over the years, the waterway has grown more and more backed up with muck, leading to slower drainage overall for much of the city.
There was a project in the works to try and fix that. FEMA awarded Whiteville about $3.7 million for a restoration project through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, program. That money would have been used to restore 5,100 feet along the stream and make improvements to the culverts.
But this past spring, FEMA canceled the funding amid cuts from the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency.
"We were to the point where we were almost ready to begin bidding the project, and they pulled the rug out from under us," said Currie.
There's still some $1.3 million in state funding for the project. But Currie said for now, the project — which was previously nearly shovel-ready — is on hold, pending further action from the federal government. He said during the meeting that he's optimistic that the money will eventually flow forth. He's just not sure when.
"Hopefully our legislative delegation and the state, along with the federal government, hopefully will get that restored in some form," he said.
Meanwhile, city residents like Cutler continue to worry.
"Flooding does not care how you vote. It does not care how much money you have. It also does not care how smart you are or think you are," he said. "I want to make that very clear."
Read more:
- The News Reporter: Whiteville floods again: Can anything be done to prevent a repeat?
- Border Belt Independent: FEMA cancels $11 million for flood mitigation projects in Columbus and Robeson counties
