“And they are not designed perfectly.
They are not perfectly sealed.
Many of them suffer from cracks and breaks, in a variety of locations that usually don’t present themselves as a problem, but then all of a sudden you have these flood waters and storm surge waters rushing in, and it causes the contamination to leak out, and from that you basically get contamination of the system from a broad perspective.” Noble defined storm surge as “the ocean being pushed inland from the wind of the hurricane, and it’s also the direction of the wind coming from the hurricane."
“As a lab, it’s kind of all-hands-on-deck to get as many samples as we can.
We’ve been working with Division of Marine Fisheries Partners, and partners in other labs here," said Kelsey Jesser, a Ph.D. student working closely with Noble.
"Those just require a lot of time and manpower to get through, so we’ve all been working and will continue to work on that specifically."
Of the contaminants Noble tests for in North Carolina’s waters, her lab is most concerned about pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli.
This bacteria can be contracted through coming in contact with flood waters.
"Those types of bacteria that actually can cause really serious infections, wound infections that can cause people to be hospitalized within 12-24 hours."
"Being able to conduct research, that will hopefully better the quality of the lives of people in Beaufort, is very impactful for me," said Matthew Price, a Ph.D. student who specializes in stormwater and works at the Noble Lab.