Pollution discharge from Hurricane Florence: Examining how North Carolina is Impacted by modern day storms

Abstract

BEESON, SHANE. Master of Environmental Assessment. Pollution Discharge from Hurricane Florence: Examining how North Carolina is Impacted by Modern day Storms. (Under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Nichols.)

Hurricane Florence was a long-lived tropical cyclone that brought record-breaking rain amounts to North Carolina in September 2018 that the state had never seen before. With North Carolina still recovering in some locations from the flooding and destructive impacts Hurricane Mathew brought on the state in October of 2016, and with a projected frequency in hurricane intensity occurring in the Atlantic Ocean due to climate change, impacts from significant weather events like hurricane Florence and their effects on North Carolina need to be addressed. Utilizing the NCDEQ Incident Tracker for Hurricane Florence, discharge locations among municipal wastewater, industrial spills and agricultural lagoon breaches were recorded and mapped to examine discharge amounts released between these sectors and the demographic relationships within the state and how these impacted areas will increasingly become more vulnerable to the effects climate change is predicted to bring to North Carolina.