A version of this article first appeared in WFAE’s Climate Newsletter. Sign up here to receive weekly climate news straight to your inbox.
This week in Carolina climate and environmental news … storms wreck the South, a toxic algae takeover threatens local fish populations and the Charlotte region gets a new amphibious state trail. If the weather ever clears up, I'm looking forward to paddling down the South Fork to spot some of our endemic South Mountain crayfish.
Tropical Storm Chantal hit central North Carolina this weekend, leading to widespread flooding in Chatham, Orange, Alamance and Durham counties. A photo taken of a building at 1613 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road, where past flood lines had been marked, showed water levels higher than Hurricane Fran in 1996, but lower than flooding in 1945. Water levels appear to have exceeded Saxapahaw's 500-year floodplain.
“This historic weather event caused flooding like we haven’t seen in several decades in the central part of the state,” said North Carolina Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins in a written statement.
The floodwaters threatened to breach Lake Michael Dam in Alamance County. Built in 1952, state regulators designated the dam as "high" hazard during their most recent inspection. Imminent dam failures are becoming a common refrain in this state whenever a historic flooding event occurs; the American Society of Civil Engineers reports that there are 1,579 high-hazard dams in North Carolina. As the frequency of severe storms increases, the likelihood that one of those dams will fail also rises.
Interested in supporting Alamance County recovery? Please read our article on volunteer convergence if you're considering donating supplies and materials. Remember to contact local organizers first.
- Local nonprofit Saxapahaw Forward is collecting funds for flood recovery.
- The SXPHW Facebook page has been updating a daily list of supplies needed and volunteer opportunities.
Private well testing: If you live in a region that recently flooded, here are links to well testing applications for the following counties:
- Chatham
- Alamance
- Orange
- Durham (County offers free sample kits)
- The Haw River Assembly also posted a guide on testing your well water after Tropical Storm Chantal.
A flood warning by any other name
A week of bad weather is putting Trump's federal cuts to the test. Flash floods near San Antonio, Texas, killed more than 120 people late last week. The tragedy has since led to some finger-pointing between local officials and the federal government.
On one hand, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch the day before. Some experts said the NWS did its job, and while they couldn't predict the amount of flooding with pinpoint accuracy, the federal agency issued a warning in time for officials to take action. However, the New York Times reported more severe or precise warnings didn’t happen until the middle of the night, when most folks were likely asleep.
When officials received these warnings, they did take action — Texas officials followed the proper protocols given the information they had. So, is the issue forecasting or local emergency preparedness?
The problem might be both. Trump has cut federal staffing and funding, including hundreds of positions with the National Weather Service. Some of those positions, such as warning coordination meteorologists, serve as the nexus between the federal agency and local emergency management. We'll understand the influence of these cuts better over time, but it seems likely that the effects will compound, and the reduced certainty will result in deadlier and more expensive severe weather.
Our emergency response planning, federal funding decisions and weather warning systems are underpinned by a sluggish response to storms that are already evolving — a pernicious kind of soft climate denialism. As we continue to burn fossil fuels and warm the planet, the Earth's atmosphere will be able to hold more and more water. At the same time, a larger population and more impervious surfaces — think roads, buildings and parking lots — mean more people are coming into contact with fast-moving stormwater. The catastrophic results are reflected in flood fatalities over the last thirty years:
All these factors can cause problems for places like Kerr County, Texas, where people are used to seeing flood warnings. It's understandable that someone who regularly shelters at home during a flood might continue doing so when the warning stays the same. Especially if more severe warnings don’t come until the dead of night.
In Kerr County, the NWS eventually upgraded its warning to a flash flood emergency, but only after waters had started to rise. We may need to update our emergency communications in the lead-up to an event to keep pace with the elevated threat. Either that or people will have to adjust their expectations around precipitation … something that seems unlikely given folks' attitudes toward climate change.
Climate optimism
A recent Yale study found that Americans feel more interested than afraid when they think about climate change. More and more, they believe they have already been harmed by global warming, though most Americans still don't. This is interesting given that people seem to understand how our climate is changing — at least to some degree. Many see the connection between global warming and extreme heat, flooding and air pollution more readily, though they're less likely to correlate global warming with more abstract impacts, such as the spread of disease and power outages.
If there's a silver lining, it's that when it comes to climate vibes, Americans tend to wax optimistic. Only 12% of people have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming. They generally believe that we can still do something about global warming, and a little over half (55%) believe that there's something individuals can do to help.
Articles mentioned:
- Algae blooms in Lake Norman, threaten local ecosystems
- Charlotte region is one step closer to its first state trail
- How good was the forecast? Texas officials and the National Weather Service disagree
- Texas flooding: Who are the victims, what’s the death toll, could it rise?
- New York Times: Graphing Guadalupe’s water level during the flood
