Coastwatch 



COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Managing Editor 

 Katie Mosher 



Senior Editors 

 Ann Green 

 Jeannie Faris Norris 

 Renee Wolcott Shannon 



Designer 

 Linda Noble 



Circulation Manager 

 Sandra Harris 



The North Carolina Sea Grant College 

 Program is a federal/state program that 

 promotes the wise use of our coastal and 

 marine resources through research, extension 

 and education. It joined the National Sea Grant 

 College Network in 1970 as an institutional 

 program. Six years later, it was designated a 

 Sea Grant College. Today, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant supports several research projects, 

 a 12-member extension program and a 

 communications staff. Ron Hodson is director. 

 The program is funded by the U.S. Department 

 of Commerce's National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration and the state 

 through the University of North Carolina. 

 Coastwatch (ISSN 1068-784X) is published 

 bimonthly, six times a year, for $15 by the 

 North Carolina Sea Grant College Program, 

 North Carolina State University, Box 8605, 

 Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8605. 

 Telephone: 919/515-2454. Fax: 919/515-7095. 

 E-mail: kmosher@unity.ncsu.edu. 

 World Wide Web address: 

 http://www2.ncsu.edu/sea_grant/seagrant.html. 

 Periodical Postage paid at Raleigh, N.C. 



POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 



Coastwatch, North Carolina Sea Grant, 

 North Carolina State University, Box 8605, 

 Raleigh, NC 27695-8605. 



Front cover photo of boat and decoy 

 by Scott D. Taylor. 



Table of contents photo of Currituck 

 Sound by Scott D. Taylor. 



Printed on recycled paper. 



Database to Reflect 

 Power of Hurricane Fran 



Thele gacy of Hurricane Fran lives on. 



Spencer Rogers, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant's coastal construction and erosion 

 specialist, is working with state and federal 

 agencies to bm 

 develop a 

 comprehensive 

 data bank on the 

 September 1996 

 hurricane, which 

 is considered a 

 100-year storm- 

 surge event. 



The 

 extensive 

 database will 

 provide wide 



opportunity for analysis. For example, 

 researchers can determine the success of 

 beach nourishment efforts by comparing 

 damage in those areas to damage sustained 

 outside the nourishment zone. 



"In the past we have done a better job 

 of looking at individual buildings, what 

 happened to them and why," Rogers says. 

 "We have not done as good a job of looking 

 at what happened at a community level and 

 why." 



Rogers is collaborating with many 

 agencies to develop the data bank, including 

 the mapping lab at the North Carolina State 

 University Department of Civil Engineering, 



the N.C. Division of Coastal Management, 

 the Federal Emergency Management 

 Administration's hazard mitigation grant 

 program, the National Oceanic and 

 '.nee Atmospheric 



Administration's 

 Coastal Services 

 Center and the 

 U.S. Army Corps 

 of Engineers. 



Damage 

 statistics are 

 being gathered 

 for erosion, 

 overwash and 



t ■/ / 1 Atuv • f. flood zones. 



lopsail Island felt Fran s jury. Within these 



zones, damage assessments will include 

 data such as building location, size, value, 

 age and foundation type. 



'We will have flood insurance claims 

 of actual damage from a 100-year storm 

 surge that should have been handled by 

 current construction codes. These reports 

 will show the real cost to the flood 

 insurance program and to the public," 

 Rogers says. 



"Fran's sustained wind speeds in most 

 of the developed areas were less than 1 10 

 miles per hour and thus did not provide a 

 full test of the 50-year wind standard used 

 in the building code." — K.M. 



In the Next Issue of Coastwatch 



n the next issue of Coastwatch, Julie Ann Powers takes you to Portsmouth — 

 the biggest and busiest town on the Outer Banks for decades after its founding in 

 1 753. But Portsmouth's fortunes ebbed with the whims of the sea. Today, the 

 remote village on Cape Lookout National Seashore is preserved as a testament to 

 island life. Occupied now only by memories, Portsmouth whispers its history in 

 the sweep of the wind, the murmur of the distant surf and the creak of every 

 rusted door hinge. 



And while you may have visited an aquarium or two, have you ever been 

 to an estuarium? Ann Green will take you to the North Carolina Estuarium 

 operated by the Partnership for the Sounds. 



2 SPRING 1999 



