Things Hurricane Florence Will and Won’t Dump On You: Sharks, Poop, & Toxic Coal Ash

• As Hurricane Florence draws ever closer to the east coast, with the potential for historic impact and damage, rumors swirl as to what it might carry within it and rain upon our heads.
• Some stories are just absurd. Others are very real, and quite serious.

What’s not going to happen

Hurricane Florence doesn’t have sharks in it.

Yes, apparently that needed to be said.

Source: gullible Facebook users

According to fact-checking site Snopes, false reports have been going around that Hurricane Florence had picked up a few sharks along its journey, implying that these animals would coming crashing down upon hapless Americans at some point.

Snopes gently describes such a scenario as “far-fetched.”

What could happen

Pig poop

Pig poop from farmers’ open-air manure lagoons could spread far and wide if Florence brings as much rain and flooding as projected.

It’s happened before.

In North Carolina – which is currently smack in the middle of Hurricane Florence’s projected path – there are more pigs than people, and they tend to be kept in very close quarters. This makes fecal management a real challenge, and big hog farms typically fill one or more open-air lagoons with manure.

With the rain and flooding Florence will almost certainly bring, that poop would wash into rivers, thereby contaminating all kinds of resources, including drinking water.

Coal ash

Coal ash is the toxic byproduct of burning coal for electricity generation, and a lot of it is stored in unlined pits across the Carolinas and Virginia.

That, too, could wash into rivers. That, too, has happened before.

Duke Energy and Dominion are particularly at risk, and both companies have actively resisted regulatory efforts to impose tighter safety standards on their coal ash storage procedures.

What do you think?

Should there be stricter rules in place regarding the management and storage of hog manure and coal ash? Why or why not? Hit Take Action to tell your reps what you think, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Fertnig)