Haw River family questions flood maps after Chantal damage

Andrew Pope’s Haw River home was labeled a lower-risk property, but Tropical Storm Chantal still sent floodwater through the lower level and left about $75,000 in damage. Pope and his wife had moved into their first home in Alamance County only two weeks before the storm turned their quiet neighborhood into fast-moving water.

The repair bill was eventually covered by the builder, sparing the family a major out-of-pocket loss. The experience, though, left Pope with a harder question for neighbors in Haw River and across Alamance County: whether a FEMA map can still understate real flood danger when heavy rain falls fast enough to overwhelm drainage and streams.

Chantal’s impact reached beyond one home. Burlington recorded 5.75 inches of rain in a single day, while the Haw River rose to about 32.5 feet. Back Creek, which drains roughly 80 square miles of the county, helped funnel water downstream at dangerous speed and added to the flooding pressure across the area.

Pope’s property sits in a FEMA 500-year flood zone, a designation that signals lower risk than the highest-hazard areas. Yet FEMA says more than 20 percent of National Flood Insurance Program claims come from properties outside the highest-risk zones, a reminder that official flood maps do not always capture the damage a storm can cause on the ground.

For Haw River and nearby parts of Alamance County, the lesson is not theoretical. Homes outside the most obvious floodplain can still take on water, and families who assumed they were safe may need to revisit insurance coverage, drainage around their property and emergency plans before the next major storm season arrives.