Hurricane Florence Leaves Lingering Problems
Hurricane Florence definitely packed a punch, but local officials and first responders performed admirably despite the massive amount of rain and flooding. Evacuation alerts were deployed with clarity, loss of life was reduced due to the deployment of FEMA rescue teams, and utility crews moved quickly to restore power to the whopping 1 million people who lost electricity. Unfortunately, local residents are not out of the woods yet.
The Environmental Shrapnel Left Behind by Hurricane Florence
The incredible flooding has resulted in several potentially catastrophic environmental issues:
- Waste runoff from the many hog farms in the area is contaminating local water supplies. North Carolina has an unbelievable 9 million hogs within its borders!
- Coal ash runoff from a shuttered Duke Energy power plant is seeping into drinking water sources.
- A 5.25-million-gallon wastewater leak caused by a failed backup generator at a local water utility is contaminating local rivers.
- A water main break from that same utility has reduced roughly 66% of residents’ access to clean water.
The result of the disaster is a huge recovery effort for not only the electric utilities in the area, but for the water utilities as well. This underscores the importance of emergency preparedness in every utility sector. It will take months for the worst-impacted areas to fully recover from Hurricane Florence, but hopefully solid restoration plans are in place to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the effort.
