Pender County, NC Hurricane Preparedness: Flood Elevation (2026)

Code § 18-77(a) singles out coastal high hazard areas, mapped as Zone VE under § 18-7, because they carry special flood hazards from high-velocity storm surge or seismic activity, and layers extra requirements on top of the general standards in §§ 18-72 and 18-73. Subsection (c) requires new construction and substantial improvements in these zones to sit landward of the mean high tide line and the first line of stable natural vegetation and to comply with CAMA setbacks. Subsection (d) sets the core hurricane-driven elevation rule: the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural member of the lowest floor, excluding pilings or columns, cannot be lower than the regulatory flood protection elevation, and the chapter expressly bars floodproofing as a substitute for that elevation in these storm-surge zones, unlike the floodproofing option allowed for nonresidential buildings elsewhere in § 18-73(b).

Structures must be anchored to pile or column foundations designed to resist wind and water loads acting together during the base flood, using wind loading values from the current North Carolina State Building Code, and a registered engineer or architect must certify compliance on the state's V-Zone Certification form before the floodplain administrator will issue the permit under § 18-46. Manufactured homes are barred from these zones except in an existing manufactured home park under § 18-77(j).