Throughout the day, Riggs made 

 many other stops, including new and old 

 sections of Greenville. 



From the 1960s to the 1990s, Riggs 

 says there was significant development in 

 Greenville. 



"Greenville is a booming urban area 

 in which the growth has led to the 

 modification of the drainage system and 

 encroachment of the new development 

 further into the floodplain," he says. 



As Riggs takes the teachers on a 

 quick tour of Greenville, he points out 

 homes, trailer parks, low-cost student 

 housing and new industries that have 

 expanded into the floodplain along the 

 Tar River and into north Greenville. 



He stops at some new homes under 

 construction near the Tar River in 

 Greenville. The homes are in an area that 

 flooded last September. 



"We can't build on every piece of 

 land," says Riggs. "The city has recently 

 rezoned this land. We haven't learned 

 anything from our lesson." 



The City of Greenville placed a 64- 

 day moratorium on new construction 

 from December 1999 to February 2000. 



The moratorium allowed a commit- 

 tee to reach a consensus on new flood- 

 elevation building lines. The Greenville 

 City Council voted to raise the minimum 

 building to one foot above the base flood 

 elevation for stick homes and two feet 

 above the base flood elevation for mobile 

 homes. "This creates a greater safety for 

 people and properties located in the 100- 

 year floodplain," says city manager Ron 

 Kimble. 



Some of the hardest hit areas were 

 in north Greenville. Some trailers still 

 look like they did when the storm hit. A 

 child's bunny rabbit hangs out the 

 doorway of one mobile home. Another 

 one has clothes stacked inside. 



"This was a socioeconomic flood," 

 says Riggs. "The major damage in 

 Greenville was to the poor." 



To help the teachers understand 

 sediment pollution in North Carolina's 

 river, Riggs took the teachers to the banks 

 of the Tar River in Simpson. 



While standing on the river banks near 

 a wooden cabin, he says that the flood 

 caused the sediment to build up in the 

 floodplain. 



"Water poured over and eroded the 

 river banks, the agricultural fields and areas 

 of bridge and highway construction," he 

 says. "Sediment pollution is a major 

 problem in North Carolina's drainage 

 system. Sand fills the channels, and mud 

 holds and traps contaminants." 



While looking at a cabin damaged by 

 the flood, the teachers also have a brief 

 lesson on the river's erosion. 



"Twenty years ago, the cabin was 50 

 feet back," Riggs says between bites of a 

 sandwich. "The bank is eroding two feet a 

 year." 



Although the teachers were exhausted 

 at the day's end from the heat and many 

 stops, most viewed this part of the seminar 

 as an excellent learning experience. 



"I am going to take this information 

 back and debate it in the classroom," says 

 Arleen Linehan of Kill Devil Hills. □ 



"Floyd and the Flood: Implications of 

 a Natural Disaster for Teaching" is 

 included in the sequence to the COAST/ 

 Operation Pathfinder courses offered to 

 mid-Atlantic teachers since 1994. 



Funded by the National Ocean 

 Partnership Program and the Office of 

 Naval Research through the University of 

 Southern Mississippi, the seminar supports 

 education mandates to incorporate the 

 most recent research in science and 

 education technology into teaching 

 curricula. 



To find out more about COAST, read 

 the Autumn 1999 issue o/Coastwatch or 

 log onto The Bridge: www.vims.edu/ 

 bridge/ for information by following the 

 link under professional development to 

 teacher programs. 



