A Chapel Hill home ravaged by flooding by Tropical Storm Chantal in Camelot Village. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
Less than a month after I moved to Durham for graduate school, Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina. Helene, the deadliest storm to ever hit the state, took 108 lives and caused an estimated $48.8 billion in damage. Less than a year later, Tropical Storm Chantal killed six North Carolinians and did more than $56 million in damage to Orange County. This is just one of the 13 counties for which Governor Stein declared a state of emergency. The physical and emotional trauma being felt during this time reminds me of watching my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana struggle to overcome tragic extreme weather events.
As a Gulf Coast native, I’ve felt the presence of natural disasters my entire life. When I was three, I evacuated New Orleans with my mother and younger sister ahead of Hurricane Katrina. When the levees broke, my dad watched the water rise up, filling our street and submerging our front lawn, creeping up the steps to the top lip of our front porch. We were lucky the water began to drain before it could make it into the house…