Kramer’s Korner
(Continued from page 16)
was so thoroughly violated that pumping in one area worked for a day, and
then was quickly overcome. Within the county, the town of Newport had
over 200 roof rescues. Coast Guard road in Emerald Isle was not passable for
two weeks, the Beaufort business district was swamped, and just about every
low-lying area along non-ocean coastlines suffered horrendous storm surge.
In Pine Knoll Shores, the area of Juniper/Yaupon/Willow/Cedar/Holly saw the
worst of the flooding, with Myrtle and Laurel courts. Loblolly Drive, Carob
Court, Acorn and Walnut courts, and areas of Oakleaf flooded.
The town waived building permit fees for repairs and tree removal permits for
trees damaged by the storm.
The Carteret County Shore Protection Office conducted a post-storm beach
survey to measure the amount of storm loss we saw from Florence. It was
massive: 57.6,000 cubic yards, or three times what we saw in Irene in 2011.
We coordinated with the other Bogue Banks towns to reopen the town to
reentry pass holders only. It was largely unpopular that Pine Knoll Shores did
this 24 hours after the other island townVIf you saw the conditions of the Pine
Knoll Shores roads compared to the road networks of the other relatively tree-
light island towns, you might think otherwise.
• We arranged for disposal of now-spoiled food in a dumpster set up at the Iron
Steamer beach access.
• We put out to bid a contract for removal of trees on town rights of way.
• We moved our Police Department to the aquarium. The police side of the
public safety building was largely gutted by storm damage.
• As mentioned earlier, our CERT volunteers, and added volunteers on top of
those enrolled in CERT, started working 4-hour daily shifts to monitor debris
collection (a FEMA requirement).
• The public messaging campaign continued, now focused on providing
information relative to cleanup. At this point a true community dialogue was
started on Facebook for information relating to the disaster.
• The town started mosquito spraying, and took part in a county-wide aerial
spraying effort.
. As of October 17, the town continues its cleanup, prepares for (hopefully) a
beach project, works with our insurer, helps those who need assistance, and looks
internally at what we did right and what needs improvement. That’s what good
organizations made up of good people do. And that’s what Pine Knoll Shores is.
Images that summarize Hurricane Florence in Pine Knoli Shores. These are intentionaliy about people
rather than damaged homes, flooded streets and destroyed maritime forest.
Chief Jason Baker briefing staff before the storm.—p/jotos by Brian Kramer
Valor, a roommate of Assistant Town Manager Julie Anderson, relaxes at town hall at some
point during the storm.
A Pine Knoll Shores
family delivering
a meal for those
working at town
hall captures what
happened town-wide
for three weeks:
kindness and
generosity were
commonplace.
The police crew gathering for breakfast one morning in the middle of the event.
November 2018 I The Shoreline
17