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

Wayne County's flood damage prevention ordinance, Chapter 38, sets the elevation a structure must clear before the county will permit it in a special flood hazard area, the baseline standard for storm and hurricane flood resilience in unincorporated Wayne County. Sec. 38-62(1) requires new construction and substantial improvement of any residential structure, including manufactured homes, to have its reference level, including any basement, elevated no lower than the regulatory flood protection elevation (RFPE) defined in Sec. 38-5. Nonresidential structures in zones A, AE, AH, AO, and A99 may floodproof to the RFPE instead of elevating, but only with a registered professional engineer's or architect's certification submitted under Sec.

38-33(c). In AO zones, the shallow-flooding areas where a defined channel does not exist, Sec. 38-67(1) sets a distinct standard: the reference level must sit at least as high as the flood depth number printed on the FEMA flood insurance rate map, plus two feet of freeboard above the highest adjacent grade, or at least two feet above the highest adjacent grade if no depth number is shown. Every applicant must file an elevation certificate before construction begins and a final as-built certificate before the county issues a certificate of occupancy, per Sec.

38-33(c). Structures spanning more than one flood zone or elevation must meet the most restrictive zone's requirement and the highest base flood elevation, under Sec. 38-61(15).