Flooding in North Carolina’s coastal communities has rapidly worsened in scale and frequency as a result of climate change, but stormwater management is a costly problem, even when there’s political will, funding and community support.
The original state report on sea level rise in 2010 yielded controversy rather than policy changes to address the problem, but officials say there’s response happening now at the state and local levels.
Higher groundwater levels, heavier and more frequent rain storms and flooding associated with climate change threaten both individual and centralized systems for wastewater along the N.C. coast.
The Resilience Film Festival tells the stories of Hurricane Florences’ far-reaching effects and the importance of resilient communities as documented by community journalists.
The statewide plan released this week to address flooding, drought and extreme weather amid a growing population, aging infrastructure and public health threats is just a first step, officials say.
North Carolina’s environmental agency has released a collaborative plan nearly a year in the making to help guide policymakers in making vulnerable communities more resilient to climate change and coastal storms.
State Climatologist Kathie Dello says that since taking the job in 2019 she has found residents of North Carolina are ready and willing to talk about climate change, and that the state can be a leader.
Maintaining the vulnerable sliver of Outer Banks highway known as N.C. 12 has long been a challenge, but state officials say they are now adopting a more resilient approach to infrastructure design.
Young people on North Carolina’s Outer Banks who have grown up facing the challenges of climate change on an almost yearly basis say decision makers should take the problem more seriously.
In Down East Carteret County, where tales of hurricanes are woven through far-reaching family histories, residents say more recent storms are different and signs of a bigger change.
Residents of coastal North Carolina acknowledge that changes attributed to climate change and sea level rise are happening, but there’s still a reluctance to use the terms.
Hurricane Florence in 2018 marked the beginning of a shift in attitudes toward climate science, researchers say, but whether increased acceptance leads to policy changes remains uncertain.
