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We are currently living in Massachusetts (30 min out side of Boston) and we are thinking of moving to North Carolina and buy a house down there. We found out that below cities are really good (in terms of Safety / Great schools / Family friendly)
Cary
Morrisville
Apex
Chapel hill
But we also heard that flooding is a frequent threat in North Carolina and also heard that some of the above-mentioned towns are in the flood zone.
1) If you are currently living in this area or if you have any details about flooding in these areas, could you please recommend which cities or which areas of the above cities we should avoid.
2) Is there any part of the above towns that have never flooded before, or located on the high ground where flooding is not possible?
3) Or is there any other town which is not in the above list that you can recommend (we need to be closer to Durham and Raleigh because of the jobs. So the town should be 30-40 min drive from Durham and Raleigh)
Mostly we heard only good things about the above-mentioned cities except the flooding. (But also heard that the houses in Cary have some foundation issues in long run due to the type of soil in that area. Not sure about the other towns) so we need to decide whether we are moving or not, based on the flooding situation.
There are many areas of those cities/towns that are not in the flood plain. You can look at online GIS maps to see the flood boundaries for each lot/address you are considering.
From the main Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary thread list page, find the button on the right that says "Search this Forum" and type in "Flooding". You'll see that this has been discussed a number of times.
This is a much more local issue than you are making it out to be. I wouldn't stress about it, just check floodmaps and don't buy a house in one of the flood zones. Its not like all of Cary ends up underwater anytime it rains and Apex is safe or something like that. Its more like a few houses at the bottom of a hill near a runoff, etc., etc. will have flood issues and 200 yards away would have no flooding even during a major hurricane.
Plenty of pros/cons to North Carolina, but I can't imagine not moving here because of concerns about flooding.
This is a much more local issue than you are making it out to be. I wouldn't stress about it, just check floodmaps and don't buy a house in one of the flood zones. Its not like all of Cary ends up underwater anytime it rains and Apex is safe or something like that. Its more like a few houses at the bottom of a hill near a runoff, etc., etc. will have flood issues and 200 yards away would have no flooding even during a major hurricane.
Plenty of pros/cons to North Carolina, but I can't imagine not moving here because of concerns about flooding.
I echo this 100%. Its not that big of a deal. The OP can check for areas in flood plains here:
I have been around the country and can't think of a less flood prone area. Even deserts get flash floods. Mostly I guess because no major rivers run through here. As others have noted there are a couple very localized exceptions. Hurricanes are rare but not unknown. I guess those can hit anyplace on the East coast.
The flooding we get is flash flooding from localized heavy rains. It's the kind where a creek (Crabtree Creek, I'm looking at you) rises up out of its banks and floods the parking lot of a big mall built in a flood plain (Crabtree Mall, I'm looking at you). It's not the kind of flooding where the sandbag brigade is out trying to reinforce the levees and dikes to prevent whole towns from washing away. Just don't buy in low-lying areas and don't go to Crabtree Mall when there's a flash flood warning and you should be fine. Always wise to "turn around don't drown" if you see a flooded road, though.
This is a much more local issue than you are making it out to be. I wouldn't stress about it, just check floodmaps and don't buy a house in one of the flood zones. Its not like all of Cary ends up underwater anytime it rains and Apex is safe or something like that. Its more like a few houses at the bottom of a hill near a runoff, etc., etc. will have flood issues and 200 yards away would have no flooding even during a major hurricane.
Plenty of pros/cons to North Carolina, but I can't imagine not moving here because of concerns about flooding.
This. Its a "micro-location" issue. The area is very hilly (at least to my Midwestern sensibilities.) Just make sure you aren't buying in a really low spot. I live 1/2 mile from a park and street that made local news for being a lake earlier this year after heavy rains. My dog swam across the baseball fields.
I didn't really hear of any neighbors with issue from the flooding...Everyone is built halfway up a hill at least.
FRIS is your best answer to identify specific properties within the Special Flood Hazard Area. Of course flash flooding and urban flooding can occur in many un-mapped areas. But as many posters have already said, significant riverine flooding is limited to a few known areas within the Triangle.
The Flood Inundation Mapping and Alert Network (FIMAN) is another great resource from the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program. It is used for visualizing potential flooding scenarios at specific locations, and shows flooding inundation in real-time based on stream gage heights. This was a powerful and helpful resource for the response and recovery efforts during Hurricane Matthew last October.
Crabtree Creek in Raleigh probably gets the worst of the flooding - check the flood maps
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