Reprinted from Island Free Press
Hatteras Island residents are invited to a community meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to learn more about a statewide project that seeks to collect data to help communities prepare for and recover from future storms.
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The meeting, which will be held in the Hatteras Community Building, will feature representatives from Dynamics of Extreme Events, People, and Places group, or DEEPP, a University of North Carolina Chapel Hill based-group working to better understand the short-term and long-term impacts of flooding events and how households and communities recover from them.
DEEPP is an interdisciplinary team of scientists interested in the environmental, economic, social and psychological impacts of storms and floods in coastal Carolina communities.
The organization combines survey data with satellite imaging, flood mapping, and storm surge mapping in order to provide community planners and policymakers with information they can use for future disasters.
In order to better understand these impacts, as well as local recovery efforts, DEEPP focuses on both scientific approaches, as well as more personal means of data collection by conducting a random survey of households in several communities affected by Hurricanes Matthew, Florence, and Dorian.
The Wednesday meeting in Hatteras will explain the project, and will allow residents to share their own experiences with storms over the past few years, providing a clearer picture for DEEPP researchers.
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“Most often, storm damage is assessed by property damage. That leaves out those who are not property owners and marginalized groups, and all voices are important,” said meeting organizer Karla Jarvis. “Some have already gotten letters about the research, and might be wondering (about the project), so we invited (DEEPP) to come and talk to folks about it directly.”
DEEPP is a collaborative effort of multiple departments at UNC Chapel Hill, including the Carolina Population Center, Institute of Marine Sciences, Institute for the Environment, Odum Institute for Research in Social Science, and Coastal Resilience Center.
This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.
