In reply to:
POSTED BY A LONGTIME NEW BERN RESIDENT ON ANOTHER MESSAGE BOARD:
I lived in New Bern from 86 to 2001.
Went through Bertha, Fran, Bonnie, Floyd, Dennis twice.
New Bern does not flood. The river is very wide and has high banks. Downtown does flood, but you will not be there during a storm anyway. If you live in a yard with lots of pine trees around your house, cut them all down, pine trees are the number one house killer during hurricanes in New Bern. Hardwoods are fine though.
Basically, donÂ’t worry about Hurricanes at all in New Bern…just get rid of the Pine trees, and go with maples (not silver) and hardwood trees.
Bonus Question: The name of the developer is UHF Development. Can you identify what UHF stands for?
But in a more serious vein – this is a follow up perspective from a CURRENT area resident (technically from Trent Woods, an incorporated town contiguous with New Bern) who has lived here since 1987 (unlike Mike Radomsky, I have not counted the number of days I have now lived here) [;)]:
First, anyone really interested might want to look at other property sales information (i.e. the prices paid according to county records, “just the facts ma’am” type material - not sales promotion material) available for download: Craven County Property Sales Information.
Re: Flooding – There is a small park at Union Point, immediately adjacent to the development under discussion, with only marginally less elevation, which has been under water during some of the storms mentioned. That said, no there has not been any flooding of buildings in the downtown area in this time frame (at least not that I know of). I have heard that there WAS flooding of the downtown area during Hurricane Hazel in 1954, though I could not find any stories or photographs on a quick web search. Per one web site: “On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel delivered a devastating blow to North Carolina. It was the only category 4 hurricane to hit the state in the 20th century, and by most measures, was the worst.”
Another web site on the topic: National Geographic article about HazelÂ’s effect in North Carolina.
ItÂ’s worth remembering that a storm of this magnitude is quite capable of tremendous damage far from where you would normally expect, as Hazel also caused major damage as far north and inland as Toronto/southern Ontario, Canada.
An earlier post referred to loss of power and water following hurricanes. Personally, I have never lost water following a hurricane. Yes, we have lost electricity following some (but not all) of the hurricanes mentioned above. The longest power outage I have personally experienced has been for about 2 or 3 days. In contrast, my parents lost power for at least 7 days following Hurricane Hugo in the late 1980s – but they were in Charlotte, NC, a LONG way from the coast. (Anecdotally, I have heard that some coastal NC pilots, being reasonable and cautious, relocated planes to Charlotte, with unfortunate results). On the plus side – we don’t deal with power outages due to ice storms, perhaps a reason not to live in vast swaths of the US. [;)]
Re: Insurance – This has been a changing field, and insurance costs HAVE risen considerably. My house is riverfront (on the Trent River, rather than the Neuse River), with some great elevation, so flooding is NOT an issue in my specific location (if the water level ever reaches my house, it will be at least in the second story of downtown buildings), and the additional hit has been with WIND insurance rather than FLOOD insurance. I would be surprised if flood insurance won’t be needed for this RiverStation development, however. Insurance cost and availability has been affected far from here as well – I have read, for instance, that many residents of Long Island (New York) – not exactly the usual suspects for hurricane bait – have also experienced significant increases or insurance companies fleeing their market and no longer writing coverage for the area.
As far as the viewpoint “Basically, donÂ’t worry about Hurricanes at all in New Bern” Â…… I donÂ’t think I will ever be that sanguine. (Hurricane Hugo at one point was predicted to hit the North Carolina coast near New Bern, but swerved to make landfall in South Carolina. And when will the next Hazel type storm hit?). But it is a manageable risk. And (to me anyway) the matter is far different from someone deciding to build on the ocean front (particularly the Outer Banks or other barrier islands), where a Category 1 hurricane can wipe your investment (and you, if you stick around for the storm!) out. THAT makes no sense to me.
So what is the obvious take home message from all of the above? Clearly, that itÂ’s a slow day here at work the day following Christmas!