We start this week with another kind of storm damage — the impact on locals’ paychecks. For many employees, especially hourly workers, missing days and even weeks of work can have serious ramifications.
The City of Wilmington is considering changing its current policy — which would require employees to use vacation time to cover the ten days the city was closed, or not get paid at all. Other employees we’ve heard from, especially in the service industry, are just happy to still have jobs.
Then we move to environmental concerns: two weeks after the storm hit the Wilmington area, the pervasive smell has become a symptom of deeper worries. Between animal feces for CAFOs, millions of gallons of wastewater from dozens of towns, cities, and counties, and potential heavy-metal contamination from Duke’s flooded coal ash pits at the Sutton power plant, people have legitimate cause to worry.
We ask the question: what the heck is in the water?
Lastly, a return to Carolina Beach. While many municipal and county governments have postponed meetings, Carolina Beach got back to work quickly after the storm passed. It a consequential meeting, Town Council approved a new, more expensive fence for the Island Greenway project. Council also fired Town Manager Michael Cramer, who had objected to the new, more expensive fence design.
Miss any of this week’s stories? You can catch up on them below — then take a deeper dive with our weekly podcast.
Wilmington reconsiders policy forcing employees to use leave days for natural disasters
5.25 million gallons of wastewater, CFPUA’s largest spill ever, discharged into Cape Fear River
NC Coastal Federation finds high levels of bacteria, says coastal waters ‘not safe’ for swimming
Post-storm health concerns: Compromised water quality, gastrointestinal illnesses spike
Carolina Beach Town Council fires Town Manager after five years on the job
