Pirates and Precipitation

The Community and Regional Planning program hosted a Panel Discussion entitled, #Pirates and Precipitation: Who’ll Stop the Flood?, on October 29, 2024, co-hosted with the North Carolina Association of Floodplain Managers (NCAFPM). The event was held hybrid, and the recording is available here.

Four leaders joined as panelists, including Holly B. White, AICP, CFM, Resilience Planner at NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR), Marc Recktenwald, Director of Mitigation Services at NC Department of Environmental Quality Division of Mitigation Services (DMS), Dr. Ruth Akintoye, Senior Flood Planning Associate at American Flood Coalition (AFC), and Chuck Heustess, Executive Director in Economic Development, Bladen County, NC. Panelists’ bios and the organization’s introduction are here. 

Moderated by Dr. Anuradha Mukherji, panelists shared their organizations’ role in flood resilience, their perspectives on hurdles in achieving flood resilience, their vision of the future of NC flooding and flood resilience, their motivations to become a professional in the area of specialty, and advice for young professionals and students.

The event was to bring students’ attention to the importance of flood resilience and the establishment of the first student chapter of NCAFPM at ECU. The chapter’s kick-off event will be on November 13, 2024, at 5 PM at Brewster D-209. Inquiries to Catharine Spruill, Zasha Griffin, or Sam McCormack.

The event was possible through the dedication of people—From NCAFPM, Laura Arnold, Chair, Holly White, Ken Ashe, Amit Sachan, and Stephen Smith; from ECU, Dr. Misun Hur and Cooper Hilbert, SPAN President; from the ECU Planning Alumni Advisory Board, Catherine Grimm, Chair. We thank you all!