The 2024 hurricane season is set to begin on June 1 and is predicted to be one of the most active on record. In Coastal NC, there are rural and BIPOC communities that are constructed in flood zones, which can worsen existing inequities. Our Flood Zone series has shared some of their stories.


All Episodes

Building Resilience: How Community and Connection Aid Coastal Carolina During Hurricanes

Connection is our primary survival response, especially during threats like hurricanes. The podcast “Flood Zone,” produced and hosted by Akshay Gokul, explores the role of community in building resilience...

Raleigh to Morehead in 1974

Ellis Jones had a good job and good life in Raleigh in 1974. He didn’t want to move to the coast. Reluctantly, he drove into Morehead City on a...

A Church Torn Down Around You

Ethel Hill is a lifetime member of St. Stephen’s AME Zion Church in Morehead City. “I grew up in Morehead City, went away, came back, and I’m still here....

On Slowness

The speed of hurricane recovery efforts is pernicious, says Matthew Reddick of Washington, NC. If he had one word to describe how hurricane recovery functioned in his hometown –...

Rural Areas: The Kindergarten to High School Factor

Angela Lewis, of Washington NC, speaks to how people would be surprised to know that locals in Washington are not just still recovering from Hurricane Florence in 2018 –...

North River is Low, North River is Home

It’s been nearly two years since Hurricane Florence’s winds devastated homes in North River, a small coastal community in Carteret County, NC. But Yvonne Pittaway still isn’t home.  “Two...

Cheated Out of Their Homes

“I’m not against integration, but I think people are being cheated out of their homes.” Her mother’s home was condemned. Then her uncle’s. Ophelia Chambers’ family homestead has been...

White Control in Fund Distribution

Willie Johnson has been driving 30 minutes from his hometown in New Bern, NC to the more rural area of Trenton, NC for nine years. His congregation is there...

Back Street: A Neighborhood in a Bowl

“I can only imagine what my parents had to go through for that land.” Gwendolyn Brown grew up in Back Street, a long-time African American community in Trenton, NC....