Bracing for the next big one

When Hurricane Florence hit coastal North Carolina in 2018, it decided to stay awhile. The wind blew, and the rain fell for days. And though Cameron Doby didn’t experience major impacts from his home in Oxford in the central part of the state, his vivid memories of the pictures and video of coastal regions remain.

Cameron Doby is working on ways to help businesses better manage potential hurricane damage. (Contributed photo)

“I still remember the heavy rainfall, strong winds, flooding concerns and damage that affected communities across the state,” he said.

Now a senior construction management student at ECU, Doby is teaming this summer with Carol Massarra, an associate professor of construction management, to study storm mitigation in manufacturing facilities.

The project will examine how manufacturing facilities are impacted by hurricanes in terms of environmental contamination risks, operational disruptions and potential pollutant releases. A key objective is to identify patterns of vulnerability and develop practical mitigation strategies that can reduce environmental and public health risks in future hurricane events.

Doby, an ECU Honors College student, received $1,500 to conduct the research through the College of Engineering and Technology mini-grant program for new projects. He’s working on it in addition to his internship as a project engineer at the Fujifilm pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Holly Springs.

Hurricane season in the Atlantic basin runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina two years ago; the last landfalling hurricane to hit coastal North Carolina came in 2020 with Hurricane Isaias, but it was Florence two years earlier that many remember.

Florence came ashore at Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington on Sept. 14, 2018, and stalled, dropping 15 to 30 inches of rain in many areas from the South Carolina border to New Bern. Winds gusted to 100 mph in some areas. Waterways in the Tar, Neuse and Cape Fear river basins overflowed, flooding an estimated 74,563 structures. The storm killed 42 people and caused $16.7 billion in damage across the state, according to the National Weather Service.

In Greenville, the Tar River and its tributaries overflowed, flooding some streets and structures. Limbs and leaves covered ECU’s campus, with a few trees succumbing to Florence’s wind and rain.

Doby understands storms like Florence will do damage. He hopes the research results in less pollution from that damage.

“I want it to highlight what best practices should be in place and where gaps exist in real-world implementation,” he said.

Doby said the research would explore past storms, analyzing common sources of contaminated runoff and air pollution while identifying ways companies can better prepare their facilities for the next storm.

“The main purpose of the project is to bring more awareness to hurricane-related pollution and highlight the role construction and facility planning play in preventing it,” Doby said. “I also hope the research can encourage stronger preparedness and more practical prevention strategies in hurricane-prone areas.”