This Just In – We’re going to need a bigger boat.
Remember that iconic line from “Jaws” – the move that kept us out of the ocean for a couple of summers back in the ‘70s?
The water-phobic Sheriff Brody gets his first look at the great white shark that has already killed a couple of people in his community and says that line to his fellow shark hunters, Hooper and Quint. Brody would have preferred something like an aircraft carrier instead of Quint’s very … “seasoned” fishing boat … something that the shark couldn’t destroy in a couple of ramming passes.
After this week’s weather events, causing Eastgate shopping center and Camelot apartments to see massive flooding … again … I’ll state the obvious:
We’re going to need a bigger stormwater management plan.
This is going to happen again and with increasing severity. In the interest of public safety, we have to think much bigger in how we reconfigure the floodplain in this low-lying area and get the human beings away from where flash flood waters will predictably flow.
If you’ve watched any of the videos of local flooding events, you are aware that it’s not just the water that causes so much damage and poses such a threat. It’s what’s IN the water and it’s the speed with which a few inches of water becomes a foot of raging water that will easily pick up and relocate a car, a fire truck, a house and anything that comes with those items.
That includes trees, shelving, chairs, tables, propane tanks and gasoline. Sharp things, blunt, heavy things. Dangerous things.
I was covering Carrboro for the Herald-Sun during the time of Hurricane Floyd and Southeastern North Carolina experienced massive catastrophic flooding. Swift water rescue teams from Carrboro deployed to help out and many lives were saved as a result.
In covering that event I learned about swift water risks and the sheer power of a river overflowing its banks in a 100-year flood event. It’s impossible to overstate how important it is to NEVER drive into moving water across a road or water whose depth isn’t known.
When rivers are beyond their banks, they’re likely pushing lots of water through areas not built to tolerate it. This brings me back to Eastgate Crossing. Some of my favorite businesses are in there and I’m saying with great sadness — they must get out of there. The town should condemn this shopping center and the Camelot apartments that have repeatedly put people in life-threatening danger from flash flooding.
The entire county should review the status of trees along public roadways and consider a much more aggressive posture when it comes to clearing right of ways to keep power and utility lines clear of debris. Again – we must expect that many more trees that stand today will be down soon following this amount of saturated soil and more storms coming this week.
With everyone relocated out of Eastgate, we need to figure out the brilliant engineering plan for managing massive, rapid flows of water that come with intense weather events like we saw this week. This kind of massive plan is not going to come from the federal or even state governments. We need a bigger plan and we need it as soon as possible. There’s a couple of decent universities in our area with civil engineering experts. Let’s get them together for a day or two with community members and think BIG – like Carrboro’s Vision 2000 and Vision 2020 process. Let’s look 20 years out with everything on the table, then start removing obstacles from achieving the biggest, best solutions.
The water risk for the businesses in Eastgate is now like rebuilding your beach house on the sand as the waves keep pounding in. It no longer makes sense to wish/hope that this can be back online in a week or two and ignore that we’re not even halfway through hurricane season. This is coming again. These storms are different. They develop very quickly. Early warning about the conditions is not enough in managing the danger. Just image what would have happened at Eastgate if the students had been here.
We need a bigger plan.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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