Brunswick County is bringing together 50 local businesses and organizations that specialize in fields related to health and wellness, emergency planning and resiliency, disaster response and recovery and more for the 2026 ReadyBrunswick Preparedness Expo.

The family-friendly opportunity is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday on the Lisa M. Thompson Walking Trail at the Brunswick County Government Center. Parking is in front of the David R. Sandifer Administration Building at 30 Government Center Drive in Bolivia.

There will be free Sunset Slush Classic Italian Ice, popcorn, a vast display of rescue vehicles, a free raffle contest, handouts, interactive demonstrations, health screenings, and other activities. Food can be purchased from the various food trucks that will be on-site.

Officials said this they have combined the Brunswick County Health and Wellness Fair usually held in the fall with the ReadyBrunswick Preparedness Expo.

 “A large part of being prepared for emergencies is making sure you are as healthy and well as you can possibly be,” Brunswick County Emergency Management Director David McIntire said in a statement. “Resilient communities depend on community members working together to stay healthy, prepared, and informed.”

Find more information at BrunswickCountyNC.gov/emergency, call 910-253-1923 or email Volunteer and Nonprofit Coordinator Mikayla Borrero at mikayla.borrero@brunswickcountync.gov.

Learn more about the ReadyBrunswick Emergency Notification System and sign up at ReadyBrunswickCountyNC.gov.

Part of a series about the effects federal budget and staff cuts and the cancellations of programs and services are having in coastal North Carolina.

The call from the North Carolina Attorney General’s office late last year relayed news of a victory.

A federal judge in Boston on Dec. 11, 2025, sided with Jeff Jackson and 19 other state attorneys general in their case against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, informed the caller.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled that FEMA unlawfully terminated a federal grant program under which roughly $200 million had been awarded to North Carolina communities, including Pollocksville, to tailor projects to reduce and prevent storm damage.

Stearns issued an immediate, permanent injunction restoring the Building Resilient Infrastructures and Communities, or BRIC, program.

“And, that’s all we’ve heard,” Pollocksville Mayor Jay Bender said. “We’ve never heard anything official from FEMA saying yay or nay. We have not heard anything from North Carolina Emergency Management saying yay or nay.”

FEMA funnels BRIC grants to state emergency management offices, which are responsible for managing and passing funds on to grant recipients.

N.C. Division of Emergency Management’s Justin Graney, chief of external affairs and communications, said in an email that the agency had not been notified by FEMA as to when funding would be released.

“NCEM continues to work closely with FEMA to determine the next steps and looks forward to a resolution,” Graney said.

But any such resolution could be, at a minimum, months away.

The federal government still has time to appeal Stearns’ decision. The 60-day window to challenge his ruling closes before the middle of next month.

The N.C. Department of Justice’s communications office confirmed in an Jan. 26 email that FEMA had, at that time, not filed an appeal in the case.

“We are closely monitoring FEMA’s compliance with the court order,” the email states.

FEMA’s news desk at its regional office in Atlanta did not respond to requests for comment. 

The agency announced without any forewarning last April it was canceling the BRIC program, one created under President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

But just three months or so into Trump’s second term, an unnamed FEMA spokesperson stated in the announcement that the agency considered BRIC to be “wasteful” and “political.”

FEMA later clarified only projects that had been completed would be fully funded, erasing congressionally appropriated funding for more than 60 infrastructure projects in North Carolina.

Jackson joined a lawsuit filed last July by a coalition of state attorneys general who argued FEMA’s termination of the program was unlawful.

The court agreed, concluding that FEMA did not have the authority to end BRIC because Congress, not the federal agency, appropriated funds for that program.

“The BRIC program is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives,” Stearns wrote.

“Our towns spent years doing everything FEMA asked them to do to qualify for this funding, and they were in the middle of building real protections against storms when FEMA suddenly broke its word,” Jackson said in a release following the court ruling. “Keeping water systems working and keeping homes out of floodwater isn’t politics – it’s basic safety.”

Pollocksville and Leland were selected to each receive about $1.1 million through the BRIC program.

Leland plans to relocate the town’s sewer system away from Sturgeon Creek from which floodwaters rise often after storms and natural disasters.

Jessica Jewell, Leland’s communications manager, said in an email that the town is exploring other grant opportunities to help fund their project.

At the time of FEMA’s announcement last April, Pollocksville had already paid out about $18,000 in legal, advertising and procurement fees ahead of the project the Jones County town had secured to raise six commercial buildings in its downtown next to the Trent River.

“I mean, this is a project that we thought was done,” Bender said. “We had a contractor. That was probably one of the most frustrating things. We were already under contract.”

Before the state attorneys general filed their lawsuit, town officials were contacted by the state and encouraged to submit their project proposal through the Hazard Mitigation Grant program. The HMGP is federally funded, but managed by the state Division of Emergency Management.

“Having to file all the same paperwork over – I don’t know that I can convey to you the complexity of the paperwork,” Bender said. “The positive thing about this, going through HMGP as opposed to going through FEMA, is that HMGP will be at no cost to the town. There’s no match and so that will obviously make it a more financially attractive proposal than FEMA.”

He went on to say that the town will take “the best deal that comes the quickest.”

“I will feel much more confident when there is an actual piece of paper to sign and when I see people on the street preparing elevate a building,” he said.

Carteret County announced Monday that Emerald Isle Fire Chief William Charles “Billy” Matthias II has been selected to serve as the county emergency services director, effective Jan. 26, 2026.

Matthias, who has been the Bogue Banks town’s fire chief since September 2023, began his firefighting career in 2003 as a volunteer at the Swansboro Fire Department, and later joined the Nags Head Fire Department. Matthias also served as a fire captain and firefighter-EMT with Wildwood Fire & Rescue, now part of the Morehead City department, where he led structural firefighting operations, extrication and marine rescue responses, while mentoring and training personnel in operational safety and accountability. He became a full-time member of the Emerald Isle department in November 2006.

In Emerald Isle, Matthias leads an emergency services operation that includes fire suppression, EMS and U.S. Life Saving Association-certified ocean rescue services.

County officials pointed to his experience overseeing a $3.9 million budget, managing a full-time and seasonal workforce, and responding to more than 1,600 calls annually as positioning him well to lead the county’s Emergency Services operations, county officials said in the announcement.

“William understands what it takes to lead emergency services in a coastal community,” said County Manager Sharon Griffin. “He has hands-on experience, a strong grasp of operations and a leadership style that fits well with our organization. We’re excited to welcome him and look forward to the experience he brings to the County.”

In his new role, Matthias will oversee Carteret County’s emergency management, emergency medical services, emergency communications and the Office of the Fire Marshal. The Emergency Services Department coordinates countywide preparedness, response and recovery efforts for natural, technological and man-made disasters, including pandemic events. The department also provides 24-hour emergency medical response, manages the county’s 911 Emergency Communications Center as the primary public safety answering point, and administers fire prevention, inspections, investigations and life safety education programs throughout the county.

During his time in Emerald Isle, Matthias assisted in improving the department’s ISO rating to Class 3 in 2021, secured grants to enhance staffing levels and modernize self-contained breathing apparatus equipment. He also implemented data-driven deployment strategies that improved response outcomes across the primary service area and strengthened hazard mitigation and preparedness efforts in a coastal environment, according to the announcement.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve Carteret County,” Matthias said in a statement. “Emergency services work depends on preparation, teamwork and trust. I’m looking forward to getting to know the team, listening, and building on the solid foundation already in place.”

Matthias holds a Master of Public Administration in emergency services management and a Bachelor of Science in fire administration from Columbia Southern University, as well as an associate’s degree in fire science. His credentials include North Carolina Fire Officer III, EMT certification, completion of the North Carolina Executive Fire Officer Program, extensive NIMS/ICS training, and U.S. Life Saving Association open water lifeguard instructor certification.

Brunswick County residents with access and functional needs may register for assistance this hurricane season through a county registry.

The Brunswick County Access and Functional Needs (AFN) Registry helps emergency responders identify individuals who may have additional needs in functional areas before, during, and after an emergency event such as a hurricane.

The database is compliant with medical privacy laws and helps emergency responders ensure faster and more effective support during a disaster for those in need of additional assistance.

Brunswick County’s Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Management departments are encouraging all residents with access and functional needs to register for assistance this hurricane season.

Emergency officials will use the ReadyBrunswick Emergency Notification System to simultaneously contact registrants with information related to a specific emergency event. Once contacted, individuals will be asked to share their status, evacuation plans, and anticipated needs for that specific event.

Brunswick County’s Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Management departments recommend enrollment in the AFN Registry for individuals who meet the following criteria:

• Have physical, developmental, or intellectual disabilities.
• Use mobility aids, such as wheelchairs, walkers or canes.
• Rely on medical equipment or assistance devices such as oxygen tanks or ventilators.
• Have chronic health conditions that require regular care or medication.
• Have visual, hearing, or speech impairments.
• Experience cognitive or mental health challenges such as dementia, severe anxiety, or autism.
• Need help with daily living activities, including eating, bathing or dressing.
• Lack reliable transportation or are unable to drive due to age, disability, or financial hardship.
• Are elderly and live alone, or are socially isolated.
• Are temporarily injured or recovering from surgery.

AFN Registry sign-up is voluntary and registrants can opt out at any time. Information provided in the registry is strictly confidential and will be used only in an emergency.

For additional information visit Brunswick County’s Assistance webpage or contact Brunswick County EMS at 910-253-2850.

For assistance with signing up for ReadyBrunswick and the AFN Registry, email Brunswick County Emergency Management at emergency.management@brunswickcountync.gov or call 910-253-5383.

Effects of Hurricane Erin, including flooding, storm surge and overwash have already begun on the coast, and will worsen overnight, National Weather Service meteorologists said late Wednesday morning.

“Despite the path of Erin forecast to remain offshore, the threat for life-threatening rip currents, damaging beach erosion, major coastal flooding and overwash, and extremely dangerous surf continues as expected,” forecasters said. “Erin is expected to increase in storm size, and tropical storm force winds will reach the coast, especially the Outer Banks.”

Gov. Josh Stein and state emergency management and transportation officials reiterated during a press briefing Wednesday that the coast will feel the effects event though the storm will pass a few hundred miles offshore.

“Based on the current forecast, we are anticipating coastal flooding from massive waves, tropical storm force winds, and tidal and storm surge for much of the state shoreline, especially the Outer Banks, from this evening through Thursday,” as well as life threatening rip currents, and extensive beach erosion along much of the coast, Stein said.

As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Hurricane Erin was about 335 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras with maximum sustained winds at 110 mph. The storm was moving north at 13 mph and is forecast to move northwest, and then northeast through midweek.

Storm surge warnings and tropical storm warnings were in effect Wednesday for Cape Lookout to Duck. A tropical storm warning is in effect for Beaufort Inlet to Chincoteague, Virginia, including Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. Moderate to significant storm surge inundation of 2 to 4 feet above ground level is expected along the oceanside north of Cape Lookout, and the worst impacts will likely be felt along the Outer Banks on Ocracoke and Hatteras islands, forecasters said.

Strong rip currents are expected through the remainder of the week, and extensive beach erosion is likely. Waves could reach 20 feet in height with wave periods of 15 or more seconds, with the highest on the Outer Banks.

Warning Coordination Meteorologist Erik Heden with the National Weather Service’s Newport office said during his midday briefing Wednesday that, in terms of impacts, the forecast hadn’t changed since Sunday.

A borderline Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Hurricane Erin was starting to turn to the north, Heden said, and his office has “high confidence” the storm was going to turn to the northeast. Category 3 winds are from 111 to 129 mph.

Heden urged those along the coast to keep in mind that if Erin gets a little stronger or weakens in terms of just wind speed overnight, that “doesn’t matter for us. We’re still going to have high impacts along our coast,” Heden said. “No matter what happens to the strength, please know that our impacts have not changed.”

Stein, during his briefing, reminded listeners that states of emergency had been declared for Currituck, Dare and Hyde counties. Mandatory evacuations were put in place for visitors and residents earlier this week for Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

“Yesterday, I declared a state of emergency across North Carolina to facilitate our emergency response and to keep you safe,” which enables the state government “to send critical resources from across the state and around the country to respond,” he said.

Stein said he wanted to emphasize “the importance of taking this storm seriously, because it’s a serious storm and conditions can deteriorate quickly, please take these steps to ensure your safety,” which include staying informed by following reputable sources like the National Weather Service and local media, having a disaster kit ready, and an evacuation plan set.

“And finally, do not drive through floodwaters. Too many people have died driving into flooded roadways. Don’t do it. You do not know how deep the water is or how fast it is running, so please don’t drown. Turn around. We do not want you to become a casualty of Hurricane Erin,” he said.

State Emergency Management Director Will Ray said he wanted to remind everyone, that “regardless of the track of the center of the storm, dangerous conditions can be felt far from the eye, especially with the system as large as Erin.”

Wave action and storm surges of 2 to 4 feet will likely erode dunes along portions of the coast, especially east- and southeast-facing beaches and the Outer Banks, and cause numerous roadways to become impassable, especially N.C. Highway 12.

Ray said no significant federal resources were expected to be needed to support response, but the agency would continue to reassess throughout the storm.

He said coordination around problems such as abandoned or derelict vessels, or anything that could create hazardous debris in waterways, “those are conversations we’ve been having over the course of this week with the various federal agencies.” Those include the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard providing support, “on how we, one, support life safety missions in those impacted areas, but also have the right federal resources postured should they be needed to deal with some of the infrastructure impacts there.”

When asked about long-term plans to preserve N.C. 12, Stein said officials will have to wait and see what the extent of the damage is from this storm.

“Look, people love our Outer Banks. It’s a national treasure, and you need to be able to get to them. We have ferries that take us to the islands, but this is an important road for North Carolina,” Stein said. “So many people live there. There’s so much tourism dollars that goes on that road. It is an important asset to the state. And then we need to do everything we can to protect and preserve it.”

North Carolina Department of Transportation officials in a press release shortly after Stein spoke advised people on the coast to avoid traveling starting Wednesday night because the rain and winds from the western edge of the storm could flood and damage coastal bridges and roads, including N.C. 12.

Southeast coastal counties and municipalities within them are teaming with the N.C. Emergency Management to update the Southeastern N.C. Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The federally required plan helps prepare for future disasters by identifying natural hazard risks, potential impacts of those risks on communities, and mitigation goals and actions. Plans must be updated every five years.

Residents of Brunswick, New Hanover, Onslow and Pender counties are invited to take a short public survey to provide feedback as part of the update to the plan.

A virtual meeting about the updated plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 18. Anyone wishing to attend may register online.

Hazard mitigation plans are required under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, which mandates state, tribal, county, and local governments create, approve and adopt mitigation plans in order to be eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster and nondisaster grant programs.

There are 30 regional multijurisdictional hazard mitigation plans in North Carolina. This is the state’s fifth update of those local mitigation plans. Updates are managed and funded by N.C. Emergency Management through grant funding.

The update process includes a thorough community-level review of natural hazard risks and potential impacts, capabilities, and a review and updating of mitigation goals and actions established in previous plan editions.

Part of a series about the effects federal budget and staff cuts and the cancellations of programs and services are having in coastal North Carolina.

POLLOCKSVILLE – North Carolina’s attorney general is confident federal funding unceremoniously stripped from local governments earlier this year will be reinstated under a court ruling.

“I think we’re going to win in court,” Jeff Jackson said Tuesday afternoon. “I think our argument is very strong.”

Jackson had just wrapped up a short tour of Pollocksville’s Main Street, where the town’s longtime mayor pointed to building after building tapped to be raised higher off the ground and out of the path of future flooding that might spill over the banks of the Trent River.

“This building’s got great potential,” Mayor Jay Bender said as the two men strolled a sidewalk toward the river. One that, in September 2018, rose more than 25 feet when Hurricane Florence dumped more than 30 inches of rain.

Floodwaters forced most of the town’s residents to evacuate and destroyed or damaged more than 80% of its buildings.

“There’s nothing woke, there’s nothing political, there’s nothing wasteful,” Bender said to Jackson.

There’s also nothing left of the federal program that helped communities tailor projects to reduce and prevent damage from future storms.

Four days before Pollocksville officials were to sign contracts to kickstart their project to raise buildings, President Donald Trump’s Federal Emergency Management Agency killed the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, grants program.

The agency said only projects that have been completed will be fully funded.

Gone was the nearly $1.1 million in funding this small Jones County town had worked so hard to secure through a process vetted by FEMA for more than 30 months.

“The rug was pulled out from under us,” Bender said.

A coalition of 20 state attorneys general, including Jackson, filed a lawsuit on July 16 in a federal court in Boston accusing FEMA of unlawfully terminating the BRIC program.

“The basic argument is that was not FEMA money to cancel,” Jackson said during a press conference under a picnic shelter in the town’s waterfront park. “That was congressional money. Congress gave that money to FEMA and told FEMA how to spend it. They said we want you to spend it helping small towns like Pollocksville defend themselves against the next flood. That is exactly what Pollocksville was doing with this money.”

Tuesday’s visit to Pollocksville was his second in recent days to a North Carolina town awarded BRIC funding only to have it ripped away.

Several days ago, Jackson went to Hillsborough to visit a pumping station that flooded when Tropical Storm Chantal swept through parts of central North Carolina early this month. Plans were to construct a new pumping station outside of the floodplain with more than $5 million in BRIC funds.

“We’re going in order of indefensibility,” he said Tuesday in what seems to be a campaign of sorts to raise awareness of FEMA’s decision to cut the BRIC program.

Pollocksville is one of 68 towns, cities and counties in the state that have been awarded BRIC grants since the program officially began its first round of funding in 2020. As previously reported by Coastal Review, almost half of the local governments awarded funding are in the 20 coastal counties.

The only completed BRIC project in the state is a living shoreline in Duck.

Congress approved the program in 2018 with bipartisan support and Trump’s signature during his first presidential term. Since then, nearly $5 billion has been committed to communities across the country for projects to elevate buildings and roads, relocate vulnerable sewer pump stations, control flooding, and strengthen building codes.

“Yes, we want to get this money back to Pollocksville,” Jackson said. “If we’re successful it means we get money back for the entire state.”

He said he expects the court will hold a hearing “within the next few weeks” over a request by the attorneys general for an injunction to lift the funds from being blocked.

“That’s been our request that they treat this as an emergency,” Jackson said. “What we want the court to do is say, while this matter is winding its way through court, which will take six to nine months to fully resolve, the money can continue to flow.”

Jackson said there’s no lack of evidence to support the importance of BRIC funding for communities like Pollocksville that are trying to better protect its residents and infrastructure from floods and other natural disasters exacerbated by the changing climate.

“The flood here, the flood in Hillsborough that happened three weeks ago, there’s fresh evidence with respect to an enormous number of these things,” he said.

With this week’s colder weather coinciding with Winter Awareness Week, Dec. 1-7, Gov. Roy Cooper is encouraging residents to plan and prepare ahead.

“Winter weather is already impacting North Carolina with lower than average temperatures across the state and we want people to be prepared for the possibility of extreme cold, snow, ice and other hazardous weather,” Cooper said Monday in a release. “North Carolinians should be prepared and have an emergency plan, update your emergency preparedness kits and stay informed by paying attention to trusted and official sources of information regarding weather forecasts and alerts.”

Cooper’s office emphasized that residents monitor winter weather conditions and forecasts by listening to local media and paying close attention to winter weather watches, warnings and advisories.

Erik Heden, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Newport, said in an email to media that Winter Preparedness Week is a way to reinforce what one should do to prepare each winter season. 

“It only takes one storm to make an impact in our community,” he said. “We want to remind you that nor’easters and coastal storms can be as impactful as hurricanes.”

Forecasters Tuesday were calling for cold, dry conditions will remain through Wednesday, with near record lows possible early Wednesday morning. A dry, strong front moves through the region Thursday with arctic high pressure building back over the area Friday into the weekend.

New terms to communicate ‘cold’

Heden said that the National Weather Service has consolidated and changed the names for wind chill watches, warnings and advisories.

Effective Oct. 1, wind chill watches and warnings were consolidated into extreme cold watches and warnings. Wind chill advisory was replaced with cold weather advisory.

Heden said the new cold-weather messaging products are to allow forecasters to “communicate ‘cold’ with or without wind; wind chill will not go away though emphasis will be placed ‘cold is cold’ for public safety.”

Weather Service officials said earlier this year that the changes are to improve winter hazards messaging.

“These changes seek to clarify that cold can be dangerous with or without wind, addressing a common misconception that extreme cold is only tied to colder temperatures when there is wind. Dangerously cold weather can accompany or follow wintry precipitation, and the cold messaging can be overshadowed by the wintry precipitation.”

Winter may be warm, dry

Winter doesn’t officially begin until Dec. 21, but National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters anticipate that the coming season will have drier-than-average conditions from the Four Corners region of the Southwest to the Southeast, Gulf Coast and lower mid-Atlantic states.

The winter outlook for the state from the North Carolina State Climate Office is consistent with NOAA’s.

“It’s setting up to be a consequential winter for North Carolina, with the fate of a newly emerging drought, along with a potentially record-breaking ‘snow drought,’ hanging in the balance,” Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis writes.

“We’re expecting overall warmer and drier conditions in North Carolina this winter. Recent trends also support that warm outlook: over the past 20 years, 17 of those winters have been warmer than the historical average, including five of our top ten warmest winters on record,” he adds.

“Ultimately, January may be the decisive month this winter. If we briefly shift to a wetter pattern at our climatological coldest time of year, that could potentially bring an end to both our meteorological drought and the stubborn snow drought. But if January stays dry, then we could see drought stick around to start the spring, particularly if spring-like temperatures start early again next year.”

Planning ahead

To prepare for winter weather, Cooper’s office provided the following list from state emergency management officials urging residents to:

• Always keep at least a three-day supply of nonperishable food and a supply of medication in your home.
• Keep fresh batteries on hand for weather radios and flashlights.
• Dress warmly. Wear multiple layers of thin clothing instead of a single layer of thick clothing.
• Properly vent kerosene heaters and ensure any electric generators are operated outside and away from open windows or doors to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Never burn charcoal indoors.
• Use a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radio or a weather alert app on your phone to monitor changing weather conditions.
• Keep alternative heating sources and fire extinguishers on hand. Be sure your family knows how to use them.
• Store an emergency kit in your vehicle. Include scraper, jumper cables, tow chain, sand/salt, blankets, flashlight, first-aid kit and road map.
• Make an emergency supplies kit for your pet and include medical records, first-aid kit, enough canned/dry food and water for three to seven days and pet travel bag or carrier.
• Do not leave pets outside for long periods of time.
• Ensure your pet has a well-fitting collar.
• Bring pets inside when temperatures drop below freezing.
• Move livestock and other animals to a sheltered location with food and water.
• If you must travel during bad weather, emergency officials remind motorists to leave plenty of room between you and other vehicles and, if driving on snow- or ice-covered roadways, reduce your speed. If conditions worsen, pull off the highway and remain in your vehicle. Do not set out on foot unless you can see a building close by where you can take shelter.

For more information on how to prepare for winter storms and other hazards that affect North Carolina, visit www.readync.gov.

Spanish speakers can learn through a statewide emergency response training course later this week how to help others and assist first responders in times of need.

The courses being offered in Spanish are scheduled for 6-9 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday in the New Hanover County Emergency Operations Center at 230 Government Center Drive in Wilmington. Register online to participate.

Course content, materials and delivery are in Spanish. The training is through the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, program, and offered in partnership by the New Hanover County offices of Diversity and Equity and Emergency Management and North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to collaborate with our emergency partners, both locally and from the state, to bring this incredibly important training to our community,” New Hanover County Chief Diversity Officer Linda Thompson said. “The CERT program allows individuals to learn valuable skills so they can help respond and assist their community in times of need. Having people who are trained in this program and have the ability to communicate in Spanish is a vital resource that will allow us to help as many people as possible when the moment comes.”

CERT is a national program that was initially developed to train citizens so they could help their communities in the aftermath of disaster when first responders were overwhelmed or unavailable

To learn more about CERT, visit ReadyNC.gov/Get-Involved.

A State Climate Office of North Carolina program that records weather and soil data will soon be able to collect that information at Jockey’s Ridge State Park.

The Jockey’s Ridge station will be the 44^th research-grade, real-time weather station making up the North Carolina Environment and Climate Observing Network, or ECOnet. Currently, there are 43 in North Carolina, some in the coastal communities of Gates, Lewiston, Plymouth, Aurora, Castle Hayne and Bald Head, and the rest across the state as far west as Mount Mitchell.

The stations, 33-foot tall aluminum towers some of which are solar powered, have 15 different sensors standardized across the network that read atmospheric and soil parameters such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, precipitation and soil moisture and temperature at one-minute intervals. The data are then transmitted back to the Cimate Office in Raleigh every five minutes, per ECOnet.

All collected data are on the ECOnet website, where researchers, homeowners, farmers and others can access current conditions, learn if it’s too windy to apply pesticides, not the right time to plant or to harvest, if it’s too hot to work outside, climate trends, and regularly updated photos of the towers. ECOnet also maintains a historical record that is used to validate weather and climate models so that the accuracy can be improved. All the information is free and available to the public.

Dr. Sheila Saia, associate director of the state Climate Office, told Coastal Review Friday that the base of the new ECOnet station at Jockey’s Ridge State Park will be installed in May. The station should be up and running this summer, when data will become available on the website.

“That’s actually going to be really big news for us because we don’t have any stations right now on the Outer Banks,” she said.

The program got its start in 1978. The first 14 stations were all based at agricultural research stations and were part of the Agriculture Network, or AgNet, Saia said. The weather station network was administered in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences when there was an agriculture weather program.

“They wanted to have weather data to study to model crop yield,” she said, which what the first 14 stations mostly focused on, agriculture. The program maintained for a bit before the state Climate Office transitioned in the late 1990s to North Carolina State University. From that point, ECOnet began to grow to what it is today, and has partnered with state and federal agencies including the departments of Transportation and Air Quality.

Saia presented the basics of ECOnet during the North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute’s annual conference held last month in Raleigh. 

Saia said in an interview with Coastal Review the data is to help North Carolinians make decisions and ECOnet staff are currently looking more broadly at who needs data.

“With the Jockey’s Ridge station, for example, that’s a partnership with the state parks,” she said. “Having weather data available at that location has big implications, implications for a lot of different folks, from beachgoers to emergency management for extreme events and hurricanes.”

Saia said in that in some cases, it takes less than a year to get an ECOnet station in place, from finding a partner who is interested to signing the contract with North Carolina State University, which the climate office is under. But, the Jockey’s Ridge station took longer, about two years, because of having to meet additional requirements to withstand the powerful winds there.

ECOnet also has a few other stations that are called ECOnet extended, Saia said. These are separate because they are different in some way from the standard tower. The newest extended station is in Roanoke Rapids, which comes in at 3 meters. While it’s shorter, the tower has several sensors but it can’t take readings at 6 and 10 meters like the standard towers. The other extended site is at Grandfather Mountain.

On Friday, the website began including these extended sites.

“Before today,” she said Friday, “We didn’t have the ECOnet extend the stations on this map, but as of today, they are up so they’re represented as squares.”

ECOnet is funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Mesonet Program, described on its website as a national network of networks that provide nonfederal climate data to NOAA and other government organizations, to emergency planners and first responders, to researchers and to the public.

While NOAA has federally supported weather stations across the county, they were finding that those are still very disperse in terms of emergency management needs, Saia said. The National Mesonet Program is specifically for states to fund smaller networks. These funds are used to support ongoing maintenance.

The Mesonet program is very complementary and it’s meant to be that way, Saia said. The National Weather Service is actually using this data to make forecasts in places where they don’t have federally funded stations. This makes for more accurate weather forecasting.

ECOnet data are being used to help understand how weather processes are occurring.

“We don’t have a complete understanding of why weather happens and why different weather events happen because otherwise we would have like 100% certainty, right? We’re always learning and so researchers are using these data because they’re available,” Saia said.

But, the downside of these stations is that the data collected only represents the landscape from which it’s collecting. For example, those outside of Chapel Hill where it’s not urbanized will have a different experience than what the station in Chapel Hill would record.

“We’re always having conversations about do we need another station at this place because it’s actually helpful,” she said. The more forested rural part of Orange County is not the same as urban part of Orange County. “We’re always thinking about is there a place where a station could go that is going to actually help folks like make decisions that it’s not already there?”

Saia, before joining the state Climate office in June 2021, worked to develop ShellCast, an online tool used to help shellfish growers with shellfish area harvest closures. The app is updated every morning with data from the state Climate Office.

She said much of their work is outreach and it is part of the mission, extension and outreach.

“We have an understanding of the research but we also know that there’s someone in some place in North Carolina that needs to make a decision. We kind of stand in that middle ground where we are aware of the research, and the new advancements, but we’re also aware of the decisions people are making, so we kind of bring those two together to support communities in North Carolina.”

The 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which ended Tuesday, produced nearly two-dozen named storms, and ranks as the third most active year on record for named storms.

This year also marks the sixth consecutive above-normal Atlantic hurricane season and was the first time on record that two consecutive hurricane seasons exhausted the list of 21 storm names, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said Wednesday.

Of the 21 named storms, which have winds of 39 mph or greater, there were seven hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or greater, four of which were major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or greater.

This above-average hurricane season was accurately predicted by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, in their May and August outlooks.

“NOAA provided the science and services necessary to protect life and property before, during and after storms all season long,” said NOAA Administrator, Rick Spinrad in a statement. “From essential observations to advanced warnings to critical response actions, NOAA supports communities so they are ready, responsive and resilient to the impact of tropical cyclones each and every hurricane season.”

Scientists are tying the heightened hurricane activity in recent years to the warm phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation that began in 1995 and favors more, stronger and longer-lasting storms, NOAA officials said. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation is an ongoing series of long-duration changes in the sea surface temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean, with cool and warm phases that may last for 20-40 years at a time. These changes are natural and have been occurring for at least the last 1,000 years.

Additionally, scientists are linking the increase in activity to climate change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report released in August projects with high confidence that the global proportion of tropical cyclones that reach very intense — category 4-5 — levels, along with their peak winds and rainfall rates, are expected to increase with climate warming at the global scale, NOAA said.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Wednesday that just because hurricane season is officially over, severe impacts from climate change are lasting longer and stretching beyond traditional seasons, meaning community preparedness efforts must be a year-round endeavor.

The 2020 FEMA National Household Survey found that only 48% of American households have disaster preparedness plans, indicating that many feel immune to disasters, FEMA officials said.

“This past year, I traveled around the country and observed flooded streets and extensive debris in places like LaFourche, Terrebonne and St. Charles parishes, listened to heartbreaking stories of families who lost everything to wildfires and saw the remnants of homes torn apart by tornadoes that touched down in New Jersey as Hurricane Ida approached,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell in a statement. “I was pained to see the devastation, and it strengthened my resolve that emergency preparedness cannot only be seasonal and must be a year-round activity.”

To be prepared year-round, FEMA officials urge visiting Ready.gov and the following recommendations:

• Make a plan for the types of disasters that could affect your area and know how you’ll contact one another and reconnect if separated. Establish a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find.
• Know your evacuation route. Get accustomed to alternate routes and other means of transportation out of your area.
• Follow wireless emergency alerts. These are short emergency messages from alerting authorities delivered to your mobile device.

North Carolina Emergency Management Chief of Staff William Ray was recently appointed director of the division, replacing Director Mike Sprayberry, who is retiring at the end of the month.

Department of Public Safety Secretary Erik A. Hooks announced the appointment last week. Ray takes over as director effective Aug. 1 and will lead the state’s preparedness and recovery efforts. Ray also will serve as the state’s deputy homeland security adviser.

“I am extremely grateful Will has accepted this important leadership role for North Carolina,” said Hooks in a statement. “Will has been exceptional in his role as Assistant Director and more recently as the Chief of Staff under Director Mike Sprayberry. He has earned the trust of local, state and federal partners to ensure Emergency Management remains a national leader in emergency management services.”

Sprayberry, who also served as director of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, was appointed in February 2013 and served as the division’s seventh director and has more than 42 years of service with the state.

“We’re pleased that Will has been selected and agreed to lead North Carolina Emergency Management,” said Sprayberry. “He’s proven that he’s the right person for the job and he’s earned the respect of the Emergency Management staff both at our agency and, just as importantly, with our county partners.”

As the chief of staff, Ray has been the principal deputy coordinating and supervising the work of Emergency Management and the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. This includes management of complex programs, senior government interagency coordination, and development and implementation of strategic priorities, initiatives and plans.

“It is a privilege to serve alongside the entire Division of Emergency Management team, and I am honored to continue serving the people of North Carolina in this new role,” said Ray in a statement. “I am humbled by this opportunity and thankful for the confidence and support of Governor Cooper and Secretary Hooks. The Division will continue to focus on safeguarding all North Carolinians, leveraging the whole-of-government and whole-of-community approach for effective preparedness, response and recovery.”

Ray previously was assistant director or section chief for the Plans and Homeland Security section at Emergency Management.

“We are fortunate to have the strongest Emergency Management team in the country and Will Ray has been an instrumental leader in making sure North Carolina is ready for whatever crisis comes our way,” said Gov. Roy Cooper. “I thank Will for this critical service to our state and am confident he will continue to innovate and improve our preparedness and response operations in North Carolina.”

Ray previously served in emergency response roles at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, and in local government and the private sector.

Ray holds a bachelor’s in international studies from the Virginia Military Institute and a master’s in public health from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He and his family reside in Durham.

RALEIGH – Michael Sprayberry, the state’s longest serving emergency management director, has announced his plans to retire later this year.

“Mike Sprayberry has served our state with distinction, keeping North Carolinians safe through unprecedented natural disasters and a global pandemic,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement. “Director Sprayberry has worked to make our state more resilient and prepared than ever to withstand future storms and emergencies and overcome challenges. He has set a high bar, leading North Carolina Emergency Management with his daily refrain of ‘One team, one mission, one family,’ and I deeply appreciate his service.”

As executive director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management and the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR,  since February 2013, Sprayberry will retire Aug. 1 with more than 42 years of state service, according to an announcement from Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks.

“Over the last four years we have faced major hurricanes, winter storms, earthquakes, and a global pandemic, yet Director Sprayberry has been steadfast in his passion for the people of North Carolina and his commitment to strong partnerships across all communities and levels of government,” Secretary Hooks said in a statement.

During his tenure as director, the Charlotte native led the State Emergency Response Team in its response and recovery efforts for 19 state declared disasters and 11 federally declared disasters, including Hurricane Florence in 2018. In 2015, he briefed President Obama at the National Hurricane Center on the state’s hurricane readiness.

Officials credited Sprayberry’s leadership with N.C. Emergency Management, achieving an Enhanced Hazard Mitigation Plan State status that qualified the state for millions of dollars in additional funding to build resiliency, national reaccreditation for the emergency management program and increasing the capacity of North Carolina’s Hazardous Materials Response program, and Search and Rescue program. He was also credited for NCORR’s management federal funding to expedite assistance to disaster survivors and resiliency planning and projects.

“Director Sprayberry’s career of service to our state and to our nation has been exceptional. He is an extremely valuable member of my DPS leadership team as well as my trusted Deputy Homeland Security Advisor,” Secretary Hooks added. “His day-to-day leadership has been key to our public safety mission in North Carolina. I honor and thank Mike for his service and his many sacrifices during his outstanding career.”

“This has been the most satisfying opportunity of my career.  It has been an incredible honor to serve the people of North Carolina throughout the years facing many hazards and threats together, to include over a year of responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It’s now time to enter the next phase of my life with my family who has provided me with such great love and support,” said Sprayberry. “I have enjoyed working alongside outstanding professionals, including both the agencies I have had the privilege of leading as well as our local, state, federal, volunteer and private sector partners. They are responsible for our successes and I am so thankful for all of them. I am especially appreciative of our local county partners who have always been there for us. Our motto remains to always ask ourselves each day, ‘What have you done for the counties today?’”

Sprayberry was sworn in as the deputy director of Emergency Management in 2005 after his service as a member of the N.C. Army National Guard. He previously served in the Marine Corps.

Sprayberry served as the president and vice president of the National Emergency Management Association, a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency National Advisory Council, the state’s Deputy Homeland Security Advisor, the vice chair of the State Emergency Response Commission and a commissioner of the Radiation Protection Commission.

State and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have approved more than $25.9 million to reimburse the North Carolina Department of Transportation for costs related to Hurricane Florence.

The total from FEMA’s Public Assistance cost-sharing program includes more than $23.1 million for NCDOT’s removal of more than 192,900 tons of debris from the 2018 storm from state roads and public property in coastal counties of Beaufort, Carteret, Craven and Pamlico, as well as Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Harnett, Jones, Lenoir, Pitt and Robeson counties, FEMA announced Friday.

Another $2.8 million covers repairs to roads and culverts damaged by hurricane-related flooding in Durham, Franklin, Granville, Person, Vance, Wake and Warren counties.

The agencies said the approval brings the total to more than $48.6 million to reimburse NCDOT for Hurricane Florence-related expenses.

FEMA’s total share for the projects is more than $19.4 million and the state’s share is more than $6.4 million.

Ocracoke Island has long been famous for its charming cottages with front porches and flowers in tiny yards, tucked alongside narrow, tree-shaded roads winding through the village. But there’s nothing charming about being slammed with 7 feet of flood water.

In the wake of the devastation in September 2019 from Hurricane Dorian, Hyde County is seeking funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to elevate 114 houses in Ocracoke Village to about 8 feet above ground elevation, a proactive measure that will provide more resilience to the historic fishing community and popular tourist destination.

“It will look a lot different,” county manager Kris Noble said in a recent interview.

But Noble knew from the moment she saw Dorian’s wrath from the air what needed to happen for Ocracoke to recover: Its buildings had to be raised above flood waters.

“As we were flying over, it was basically just water and rooftops,” the manager recalled of the day-after storm scene. “The only dry land was the ball field.”

Noble, a Hyde County native, remembers when Swan Quarter, the county seat on the mainland, was flooded nearly as badly during Hurricane Isabel in 2003, when the courthouse, the firehouse and numerous homes in the unincorporated community — all barely above sea level – were inundated. Since then, she said, residents exhausted by fear of flooding, adapted to the changes in the interest of safety.

“Now when you ride through the village of Swan Quarter,” Noble said, “you see lots of elevated houses.”

Ocracoke Village, situated on the southern end of the Outer Banks between Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, has had its share of storm damage over its centuries-long history. But no one alive today has ever seen the water come up so high so fast.

Nearly every single property, including vehicles, suffered flood damage. Restaurants, inns, bed-and-breakfasts, motels, retail stores, outdoor recreational sites — all were affected. Cape Hatteras National Seashore had severe damage to its staff housing and National Park Service infrastructure, although fortunately the park’s famous Ocracoke ponies escaped unharmed.

“The ponies are like the people here,” Noble said. “They’re resilient.”

The state Department of Transportation also had damage to its ferry infrastructure and N.C. 12, the sole highway on the island, was severed and closed until Thanksgiving.

Noble said that the county had estimated that there was $30 million in property damages, not including the park service and NCDOT. After herculean cleanup efforts and complications from COVID-19, the village was able to recover enough to reopen to visitors this summer. Still, she said, between the losses in property and revenue and safety restrictions due to the pandemic, there are a number of businesses and attractions that have closed for good or have had to delay reopening.

Still, she said, the community has endured months of terrible stress and managed to restore and maintain much of the village’s character.

“The face is changing, but the face is beautiful,” Noble said. “It’s more attractive. It’s just been a really hard process.”

Chris Hilbert, with Wilmington-based Holland Consulting Planners, or HCP, said in an interview that he had first worked with Hyde County on housing mitigation work about 20 years ago. Often, he said, it can take two to five years to get the funding from FEMA. In the meantime, some homeowners find alternate sources of money to fix up their homes.

After Hurricane Isabel in 2003, 150 applications were submitted for grants to elevate or acquire properties on the mainland. Acquisitions are less common because of the high property values. Of the 50 applicants that were approved, 29 or so were elevated, including Noble’s house, he said. Mainland Hyde County, especially Swan Quarter, had also been hit hard in Hurricane Floyd in 1999, Hilbert explained. So, with damages inflicted again during Isabel, the repetitive losses made the grant money flow.

Additional applications were submitted by Hyde County in 2011 after Hurricane Irene, which flooded the Scranton area of the mainland. Since then, about 20 homes were mitigated, he said.

Then Hurricane Matthew came through in 2016, but Ocracoke felt the impact instead of the mainland. Although 12 applications for mitigation were submitted to FEMA, he said, the agency never got around to telling the county if it was even eligible.

Next, in 2018 there was Hurricane Florence, which bypassed Ocracoke for the mainland, again near Scranton. The county hired HCP in January 2019 to help with the application process.

Hilbert said he was in the process of trying to secure FEMA grants for Florence-damaged properties when Hurricane Dorian hit Ocracoke. A letter of interest had already been submitted to the agency by Hyde County, which turned out to be fortunate because it allowed the county to immediately set up an application process for Dorian mitigation for island properties.

Since the Florence applicants had not yet been submitted to the agency, N.C. Emergency Management, which administers FEMA funding in the state, was able to add Hyde County’s Dorian applications to the Florence applications.

An HCP housing inspector went to the island within a week to assess the situation and help the county secure state disaster recovery funds, Hilbert said June 30 in an email. The consultant returned later to photograph properties for the applications and provided a base map.

Hilbert said that the housing mitigation grants require approval from the state and FEMA, which explains why numerous locations are still dealing with Matthew grants.

“The really positive news is the State is finishing their review only 9 months after the actual event,” he wrote, “so the FEMA process must begin now, which will include environmental review and approval of 75% funding. The State will then pick up the other 25%.”

Hilbert said he can’t predict how many applicants will be approved, but in general, FEMA has been prioritizing lowest elevations and repetitive-loss properties. With many cottages at ground level, that should make Ocracoke a prime candidate.

Ocracoke, which has a year-round population of about 900, is not alone in having so many homes at sea level, he said. Between Hurricane Hazel in 1955 and Hurricane Fran in 1996, there were not many big storms on the East Coast. But Hazel did inspire a lot of construction of cinder block on slab houses, such as those in Atlantic Beach and Carolina Beach. The thinking was they could withstand flood waters, except they were still built barely above ground level. Even after Floyd’s massive flooding, people were still thinking it was a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, Hilbert said.

New houses on Ocracoke started being built on pilings in the 1990s, but having many more houses elevated will undoubtedly change the cozy feel in the village. The trade off, of course, is safety.

“That’s really what Ocracoke is looking at,” Hilbert said in the interview. “It’ll be fairly transformative.”

Considering the island’s location on the edge of the continent sticking out into the Atlantic Ocean, he said, Ocracoke has been fairly lucky to have dodged the bullet for as long as it did. And even when villagers wanted to raise their homes, until recently, there was no funding available to help them.

“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s almost been just a waiting game,” he said. “There was no government program that could provide money until they could show the need.”

Amy Howard, a native islander who manages her family’s business, The Village Craftsmen, on Howard Street, said that every one of the family’s buildings flooded to some extent, but her house on the corner got hurt the worst.

Built by her grandfather in 1957, Howard said the house was stripped down to three walls and subfloor. It has now been rebuilt and is standing 12 1/2 feet in the air, waiting to be permanently placed on pilings 8 feet above ground level.

But Howard, 48, said that while it’s a relief to not have to worry about flooding, the idea of elevated houses takes some getting used to “because I love the little low houses … running up to somebody on the porch … that community feel.”

The fact is, she said, most Ocracoke villagers know the risks of living on their island, and don’t see it as any more dangerous than living in other places prone to earthquakes, tornadoes, landslides or wildfires.

“I think most of us feel fairly optimistic,” she said.

Noble agreed that the community is looking forward, not back.

And if another storm comes this hurricane season?

“We’ll batten down the hatches,” she said. “I pray we get a break for a few years.”

The state and Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, have approved reimbursing North Carolina Department of Transportation $6.3 million for debris removal costs following Hurricane Florence, bringing the total reimbursement to more than $44.2 million.

The $6.3 million cover the removing hurricane-related debris in Brunswick, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender and Sampson counties. More than 14,500 tons of hurricane-related debris were removed from NCDOT roads and public property. FEMA’s total share for this project is more than $4.7 million and the state’s share is more than $1.5 million.

FEMA’s Public Assistance program is a cost-sharing program that provides grants for state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations to reimburse the cost of debris removal, emergency protective measures and permanent repair work.

FEMA reimburses applicants at least 75% of eligible costs and the state covers the remaining. The federal share is paid directly to the state to disburse to agencies, local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations that incurred costs.