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CALVIN R. PECK, JR.
(Articles are in reverse chronological order)
Tab 9
Star-News (Wilmington, NC)
July 1, 2000
CATEGORY 2 MARKERS ON POLES; Carolina Beach ponders installing storm-surge
markers
Author: William Davis
CAROLINA BEACH - Town Manager Calvin Peck laid the long, blue sign on a conference
table before the observers and participants at Wednesday's Carolina Beach Town Council
meeting.
As he explained how some state officials want the sign, reading "Category 2 Storm Surge" to be
wrapped around telephone poles in flood-prone areas of the island, a member of the audience
began to grumble.
Joe Coen, a Carolina Beach businessman and member of the Pleasure Island Merchants
Association and the Carolina-Kure Beaches Chamber of Commerce, said the banners would
drive away tourists and stop people from buying homes on the island.
If the town needs the banners to mark the potential flood zones, he said, it should use symbols or
codes that only government employees can understand.
"We don't have to alert Susie Jones driving down the street so she can say, 'I sure . . . don't want
to live in this town,' " Mr. Coen said.
To the N.C. Division of Emergency Management, the whole point of the pole wraps is that
anyone can see and understand them, said Tom Hegele, chief information officer for the division.
Officials at Emergency Management envision the wraps placed on poles every one-quarter to
half mile in places where they could be easily seen, said Mr. Hegele. He said they would
probably be placed at the average height of the storm surge during a Category 2 storm, about 4
feet.
"I think the tourists and residents would like to know" if they are in a flood zone during a
hurricane, Mr. Hegele said.
Storm surges are rising waters driven by winds and pressure from hurricanes. Historically, storm
surges have killed more people and damaged more property than any other part of a hurricane.
The idea is still in its infancy. The division has approached officials in New Hanover County and
Dare County about the pole wraps and got a positive response, Mr. Hegele said.
The division has not yet approached local governments about the pole wraps, Mr. Hegele said,
and he has not yet received any local feedback on the project.
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