If navigational channels are akin to highways on Ocracoke Island, then dredges are its version of snow plows in the mountains. Both may be subject to whims of wind and weather, but with constant bureaucratic and funding hurdles, an operator can’t just pull a dredge out the garage and start work. Reduction in ferry service […]
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Ocracoke Island has long been famous for its charming cottages with front porches and flowers in tiny yards, tucked alongside narrow, tree-shaded roads winding through the village. But there’s nothing charming about being slammed with 7 feet of flood water. In the wake of the devastation in September 2019 from Hurricane Dorian, Hyde County is […]
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It’s deja vu all over again for Hatteras Inlet’s South Ferry Channel, much to the chagrin of the Dare County Waterways Commission. With a recent survey of the channel posted online during Monday’s remote meeting, Commission Chairman Steve “Creature” Coulter pointed to the red blotch – indicating shallow water – on the west end of […]
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This is the fifth installment in a continuing series on climate change and the North Carolina coast that is part of the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative. Twenty-seven years ago, an interagency panel of bureaucrats, politicians and scientists gathered for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia, to study how to save a North Carolina coastal […]
Island Features | Full Article
Thwarted for months by a series of snags, including the shutdown caused by COVID-19, dredging of the clogged South Ferry Channel could start as soon as week’s end, members of the Dare County Waterways Commission learned at its first-ever Google Meet held Monday evening. “We’re all learning,” Chairman Steve “Creature” Coulter said in a later […]
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If there is anything to conclude from the recent spate of natural disasters and the coronavirus crisis, it is that data powers action, whether responsive or proactive. Data can illustrate the past, reflect the present and predict the future. And as Northeastern North Carolina has seen all too clearly, flooding will be much more a […]
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Even under the current shutdown of the economy, North Carolina consumers still can find fresh or fresh-frozen fish in supermarkets. That belies the enormous financial hit facing the commercial and recreational fishing industries in a state that counts fishing as one of its most valuable resources. “We do have retail markets all across the state […]
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On the Outer Banks, daily life feels almost like the familiar suspension of normality in preparing for a storm: Everyone and everything is hyper-focused on stocking supplies and staying safe. But unlike the adrenaline-fueled anxiety of hurricane readiness, anticipating the impact of looming disease is just endless churning of anxiety. No one knows what to […]
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As interest in Spring fishing is picking up, members of the Dare County Waterways Commission on Monday were anxious about getting Hatteras Inlet in shape before the busy season. Plans are now being proposed for the state, rather than the Army Corps, to dredge a shoaled area on the west end of the South Ferry […]
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The disconnect between current flooding reality and the newly released floodplain maps in Dare County, which decrease flood zones by 41%, may be starker than most coastal areas in North Carolina because of the barrier islands’ geology. But much of the disparity between actual vulnerability and the flood risk reflected in Dare’s pending flood maps […]
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