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When Hurricane Floyd came in the fall of 1999,

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we had maybe the worst disaster that I had seen

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in sixteen years as governor.

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We were used to thinking about a hurricane

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being a wind event.

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We had no idea we were gonna have a flood.

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I guess the thing the stands out most to me

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is the total devastation.

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A whole swath of a state covered with water.

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And the fact that nobody knew

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we were gonna have this flood

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nobody knew the magnitude of it.

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We became very aware that flooding

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can be an enormous problem.

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It can kill people and it killed many

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in North Carolina.

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And that the information that we had about

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what was going to happen was just poor.

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We weren't able to predict it.

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We didn't know that water was gonna be

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coming in up the rivers.

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We didn't know how much rain was falling.

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We didn't know how all this was gonna

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accumulate and come together

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to create this terrible flooding in our state.

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Flooding is the number one storm-related killer.

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And with half the U.S. population

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residing along the coastline,

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Accurate weather and water information is crucial.

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Unfortunately, the ability to predict total water level

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– which would account for how coastal storms

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affect both the rivers and the tidal plain -

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has not always been available to forecasters

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and coastal community leaders.

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That is, until now.

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is a collaboration of multiple agencies

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and universities focused on one goal:

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a better forecast.

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We have the whole entire continuum

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from our rainfall researchers

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to social scientists to outreach extension experts

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with the National Sea Grant programs.

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And what we're able to do with that then

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is we're able to actually track a raindrop

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from the sky to the summit to the sea.

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In order to provide communities

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with a total water level,

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many sources must be included.

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Streams and rivers carry water

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that runs off higher elevations.

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Eventually, these flow into a

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larger body of water

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such as an ocean.

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When severe weather strikes,

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things get complicated.

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As a hurricane approaches land,

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heavy rainfall covers the area.

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Excessive run-off causes rivers to rise.

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Fierce winds can push ocean water upstream.

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When rivers meet the ocean waters,

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massive flooding can occur.

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CI-FLOW will provide better information

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for everyone to use...

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forecasters,

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emergency managers,

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community planners,

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and the general public.

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The overall goal is to give people

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water level information where they live routinely.

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Not just when they have floods

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but everyday they have a water level forecast.

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This is to benefit these coastal communities

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so they're more resilient and so that they can respond

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and recover from the hazards of coastal storms.

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We owe it to our people to do this job.

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We have the technical ability

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and the bright people who can do it.

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And we should do it in America.