By Will Atwater
As an environmentalist and former EPA employee, Holly Reid is well-versed in weather-related issues — including the risks of flooding. She and her husband moved to Hillsborough in 1996, just before Hurricane Fran swept through the region. At the time, they were spared any property damage, Reid said.
But nearly three decades later, Tropical Storm Chantal brought a different outcome. When the nearby Eno River — roughly 400 yards from their home — overflowed its banks, the couple wasn’t as lucky.
“Our big loss in this event was our cars. Both of them were flooded, and so they’re a complete loss,” Reid said.
She noted that despite their family’s relatively extensive experience with storms — her parents lost their home during Hurricane Hugo — they weren’t as prepared for Chantal’s nighttime arrival as they could’ve been.
“We know we live near a river and that [flooding can be an] issue,” Reid said. “Even we, who take care for all the good reasons, got caught. And so, that is an example of the flooding happening with such rapidity.
“We attribute the degree and quickness of flooding to a warmer atmosphere due to burning of fossil fuels,” Reid noted. “We know this now, and we know warmer air holds more water and slows storms down. We are all suffering from these effects we have created.”
It’s all connected
According to the North Carolina State Climate Office, rainfall totals in parts of northern Orange County reached as high as 10.49 inches on Sunday. A stretch of the Eno River within Eno River State Park crested at 23.04 feet — which was 3 feet above the flood stage, according to NOAA.
Elsewhere in the state, Moore County got more than 7 inches of rain Sunday night. The Haw River rose to 22.50 feet, which is 4.5 feet above flood stage.
As of July 11, Tropical Storm Chantal had been blamed for the deaths of six people in central North Carolina, according to news reports.
Chantal arrived 10 months after Hurricane Helene battered western North Carolina last September and killed 108 people.
A recent study examining 78 flood events in North Carolina between 1996 and 2020 found that 43 percent of buildings that had flooded were outside FEMA’s designated Special Flood Hazard Areas. One of the study’s authors, UNC Chapel Hill researcher Helena M. Garcia, noted that many of these repeatedly flooded properties were inland, away from the coast.
“One of the surprising things revealed by the study,” Garcia said, “is that many of the repetitively flooded buildings were inland […] reiterating that flooding in North Carolina — and overall — is not just a coastal issue.”
The oceans are warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, which trap heat in the atmosphere and are absorbed by the sea, experts say. This added warmth increases the amount of moisture in the air and provides more fuel for severe storms like Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Chantal. In some cases, a warmer atmosphere can also cause storms to linger over a region, heightening the risk of catastrophic flooding. Chantal was a so-called 500-year to 1000-year flood event based on rainfall totals in the affected areas, according to reporting by WRAL.
Nearly three decades ago in 1996, Hurricane Fran struck central North Carolina, causing flooding in places like Chapel Hill’s Eastgate Crossing shopping center. The shopping center, which took on as much as 5 feet of water during Chantal, is in a flood plain — situated between Bolin Creek to the north and Booker Creek to the south.
Short-sighted policies
While current building regulations would prevent developments like Eastgate Crossing from being constructed in a flood plain today, there are concerns about decisions being made at the federal level. One of the most significant is the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. EPA, which narrowed the definition of “Waters of the United States.” As a result, an estimated 2.5 million acres of wetlands in North Carolina — those not directly connected to navigable rivers or lakes — are now at risk of being developed.
These wetlands play a critical role in protecting public health and safety: They help filter surface drinking water, reduce the severity of floods by slowly releasing captured water that replenishes groundwater and store carbon dioxide — a major greenhouse gas.
The potential loss of millions of acres of natural flood mitigation systems — including wetlands, forests and floodplains — combined with the U.S. government’s continued expansion of fossil fuel production, a leading driver of greenhouse gas emissions, has left the country more vulnerable to extreme weather, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.. As the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, behind only China, the United States released more than 6 million metric tons of CO2 in 2022, according to the EPA.
While federal policy continues to encourage fossil fuel development despite overwhelming evidence that links it to more frequent and severe weather events — including flooding and extreme heat — experts stress that people can still take meaningful steps to prepare for the next tropical storm or hurricane.
Lessons learned
Like Reid, Orange County resident Sara Stratton and her husband were affected by Chantal. Though their home sits on a hill near the Durham County line, stormwater still entered the couple’s basement.
“We had flooding because the water runoff from our house, we think over the years, has shifted such that it ran into a drain by a window into our basement,” Stratton said.After the storm, the couple discovered that one of their gutter downspouts was angled slightly toward the house. Combined with the natural slope of the yard, this likely caused water to flow back toward the foundation and into a window well. The overwhelmed drain at the bottom allowed water to pour into the basement.
“Just the volume of rain at the time — the drain couldn’t handle it,” Stratton said.
Stratton said they acted quickly once they discovered that water was flowing into the basement. “We did clear out the basement that night and got all of the flooring out because we didn’t want it to mold. We set up fans, and so there was air circulating and dehumidifiers.”
In hindsight, Stratton wondered whether they would have needed to be more cautious if they hadn’t been able to remove the flooring right away — especially given how quickly mold can develop.
If they’d been forced to wait longer the questions would have been “Should we have touched those boards? Should we have been wearing gloves?” she said.
Mold cleanup, prevention and flood resources:
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services:
Mold, Moisture and Cleaning Prevention Infographic
Hurricane Helene Recovery Communications Toolkit
Fact Sheet on Well Disinfection
EPA: https://www.epa.gov/mold/brief-guide-mold-moisture-and-your-home
NCHN: https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/09/27/helene-could-bring-mosquitoes/
Minimizing property damage during a flood
Keep gutters clean and ensure that downspouts direct water away from the house.
Confirm that your yard is properly graded so water flows away from the foundation.
Invest in a dehumidifier and fans to help remove moisture after a flood or heavy storm.
Consider purchasing flood insurance, which is available to both homeowners and renters.
https://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance/
What’s your flood risk?
Enter your address to see your vulnerability.
Proceeding with care
Cleaning up after floodwater enters a home should be done with care, said Virginia Guidry, branch head of Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
“It is important to dry out your home as quickly as possible. Depending on temperatures and humidity, mold can start to grow in as little as two days,” she said.
Some items are especially difficult to salvage once they’ve been soaked, Guidry noted.
“If there is carpet or padding, it is very hard to clean them well enough to prevent mold and mildew from growing,” she said. “Unfortunately, they typically need to be thrown away.”
Other moldy or mildewed items must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected — or discarded if that’s not possible.
“Because of our humid climate, mold will likely regrow if it’s not fully removed,” she said.
Flooded homes may be contaminated with sewage or hazardous substances, or suffer structural damage — all of which pose health risks, Guidry said. Mold and mildew are concerning because people’s sensitivity to mold varies. Those with allergies or asthma are especially vulnerable and should take extra precautions during cleanup.
“When people are cleaning up their home, we really emphasize that they should take steps to protect themselves,” Guidry said. “For example, wearing personal protective equipment like gloves and an N95 mask if you have it. Safety goggles, rubber or hard-soled boots, even a Tyvek suit if you have one.”
Other safety tips Guidry offered include: returning home during daylight hours for better visibility after a flood and opening windows and doors for at least 30 minutes to air out the house if it has been closed up. She also counseled caution around electricity — including shutting off the main power if it’s safe to do so, calling an electrician if there’s standing water, and having the electrical system inspected before restoring power.
An ounce of prevention
Homeowners can take practical steps to better protect their property from flooding, said Alan Spruyt, a Durham resident and builder. These include cleaning gutters regularly and ensuring that downspouts are angled to direct water away from the house during heavy rain. Spruyt also emphasized the importance of grading — making sure the slope of your property encourages water to flow away from the foundation.
Reid agrees that managing water flow around the home is critical. She suggests watching how water behaves during a rainstorm to identify any grading issues.
Another tool that can provide peace of mind during a flood is insurance. Established by Congress in 1968 and managed by FEMA, the National Flood Insurance Program offers coverage to homeowners and renters in any of the program’s 22,600 participating NFIP communities. According to FEMA, policies are administered through a group of more than 47 insurance companies and NFIP Direct. Coverage offers up to $250,000 for residential buildings and $500,000 for nonresidential properties.
Reflecting on her experience with Tropical Storm Chantal, Stratton offered a few more suggestions for storm preparation — including elevating items by placing them on shelves when possible.
“Having a dehumidifier if you have a basement, or keeping some fans — or borrowing them — are definitely a couple of things I would think about,” she added.
Given the recent study she coauthored, UNC researcher Garcia said that in addition to practical preparation, it’s worth paying attention to flood history when making decisions about where to live or how to reduce future risk.
“[Hurricane] Fran happened a long time ago, but people still remember it,” Garcia said. “That’s why I think there’s value in looking at past events and figuring out where it has flooded, because it’s actually a pretty good indication of if that place could flood again in the future.”
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