KINSTON, N.C. -- The City of Kinston, like many others in eastern North Carolina, has dealt with a couple of severe flooding events in the span of seven months including Hurricane Matthew.
Because of that, the city's mayor made a trip to Washington to tell North Carolina's members of Congress about the danger zone Kinston is in.
Mayor B.J. Murphy said he went to Washington to put an exclamation point on the issues Kinston is facing at the moment.
The Neuse River remains at flood level in Kinston, which Murphy says is even more reason for the government to look seriously at a solution.
Murphy and several other officials spoke with Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr and Reps. David Rouzer and Walter Jones during his trip to the capital.
Murphy said he urged the congressmen to look into the possibility of a flood control project for Kinston, such as building a dam or dredging the Neuse River.
Murphy says the congressmen were receptive to the idea, but that it still may take a long time before any progress is made.
"I have no idea how long it may take or how much money but what I am confident about is that no matter the cost, it is going to be a lot less than the 28 lives we lost in Matthew," said Murphy.
Murphy says he planned the trip to Washington before the latest round of storms came down on North Carolina, but that it only added to how badly a lasting solution is needed.
While the government isn’t sure what that solution might be, Murphy does have one place they could start.
It’s a plan from the 1960s from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that led to the construction of the Falls Lake Dam in Wake County also suggested a second dam further downstream in Wilson’s Mills.