These extra four stories of water have flooded thousands of acres surrounding the small city, briefly reclaiming some of its historic flood plain in what some are already declaring an 1,000 year flood event (although in reality, this is the second “1,000 year event” within three years).
Hurricane Florence landed in Wrightsville Beach, NC as a Category 1 hurricane, downgraded from the fears it would arrive as category 4.
Turns out Florence is not a light packer; the storm dumped about 18 million gallons of rain over the region, depositing 30 to 35 inches of rain in some places.
And while human health and welfare take precedence in this disaster, the Cape Fear river and estuary system is taking a beating too.
Paerl’s team used water quality data collected over 20 years within the Neuse River-Pamlico Sound system, directly to the north of the Cape Fear river.
Dr. Michael Mallin at the University of North Carolina Wilmington has been studying the Cape Fear watershed for decades.
″[Waste lagoons] are pollution time bombs waiting to go off” Extreme flood events like Florence can cause lagoons to overflow or be swallowed by the swollen river, causing mass contamination of floodwaters with nutrient and bacteria-ridden waste.
In 2016′s Hurricane Matthew, when the river crested at 52 feet, as many as 14 lagoons were breached.
The flooding hasn’t ended yet and almost two dozen lagoons have been compromised, at least one coal ash pit has already been breached, and thousands of animals are dead thanks to Hurricane Florence.
Hog farmers prepare for large rain events by pumping out their lagoons, spraying the material on fields.