Decades of flooding: Princeville residents invited to meeting to address flood solutions

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District, is hosting a public information meeting on Thursday in Princeville to gather input and provide an update on the ongoing flood risk management project.

Princeville residents have waited decades for solutions to flooding after several historic storms left the town nearly underwater.

On Thursday, behind a weathered white picket fence in Princeville, Jimmie Hilliard sat quietly, reflecting on the decades he’s spent in the historic town.

“I moved to Princeville in 1972,” he said.

In the years since, Hilliard has been displaced from his home not once but twice, during devastating floods that swept through the town in 1999 from Hurricane Floyd and again in 2016 from Hurricane Matthew.

“Every time it rains hard, I get worried,” he said. “Every time I look over there at the river, you see it coming on up.”

For years, Princeville has worked toward long-term solutions to prevent disasters like these. Now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is back in town, gathering data and feedback before making its project recommendation.

“It’s a low-lying area, and it’s extremely challenging to, from an engineering standpoint, to find something that works,” said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager Kent Tranter.

A flood risk management project was approved in 2016 and received funding in 2019. However, engineering complications led officials to abandon the original design.

Now, leaders and residents are approaching the issue with a renewed sense of urgency and a new opportunity to engage the community in the planning process.

“We want to work with the community and find something that everyone can live with again, that solves the problem but aligns with the community’s values and what they want to see preserved,” Tranter said.

For longtime residents like Hilliard, the stakes are deeply personal. Many residents, like Hilliard, have the fear of another catastrophic storm.

“It’s [a] historic [town], and I would love to see it preserved as long as we could because a lot of people went through a whole lot for Princeville before us,” he said.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Princeville Town Hall. The address is 201 South Main St. in Princeville.