Hurricane Florence

The Environmental Impacts of CAFOs

“We began to see the fish show up in the river with sores all over their body. And my son and I started to get the sores on our bodies, the same as the fish,” says Rick Dove, the first Neuse Riverkeeper. He’s talking about when he first started seeing large-scale fish kills on the…

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Mapping the Floods

Where will you be when sea waters rise the most? Climate change is affecting coastal communities right now, across the world. Even so, people still don’t understand exactly how badly they will be affected. Don Bain, a scientist at Climate Central in Princeton, NJ takes us through the “Surging Seas” project, a map-based tool to help people better understand…

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Columbus County: A Series of Disasters

In the last 10 years, disasters like Matthew, Florence, and now COVID-19 have changed the fabric of Columbus County, North Carolina and its community. Wallyce Todd and Gerry Lenahan work at Community CPR, a nonprofit focused on disaster relief in the city of Whiteville – its county’s seat. They talk about how their county is…

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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. So, I love my church.” When Hurricane Florence approached the coast in 2018, Ethel and seven family members decided to ride out the storm in their…

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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 highway 70 shadowed by trees “shaped by nature, and the hurricanes, and the salt… and the fellowship that people have here? It’s incredible.” Jones speaks to…

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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 rooms – if I can get two rooms repaired, I’m going back home.” Pittaway has been staying with her sister in Morehead City. There, as Pittaway…

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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 – many are still recovering from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. And some families will never financially recover. She notices that her church’s predominantly African American section of…

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The Evolution of a City, from Bay Street

Dallas White-Wells can remember when the young people in Morehead City always had something to do. “Now it’s mostly for retirees and beach people.” White-Wells was born on Bay Street in Morehead City, NC. She lived in this almost entirely African American part of town by Calico Creek until she was 18. Later in her…

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Hearing Stories Versus Knowing Stories

Beverly Johnson’s family bought land by the river in Trenton, NC early in the 20th century. Land ownership options then were limited for African Americans families. Inheriting land in a flood zone was not Johnson’s choice, but she does see many white families in Trenton these days choosing to buy waterfront property. Flood Zone is…

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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. When you enter the neighborhood, you pull off of ‘Backstreet Road’, go down a gravel hill, and enter what Brown calls ‘a bowl.’ She is familiar…

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