Our Grantsboro office on Sept. 15, 2018

We are just a few weeks away from the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Florence. Even now to look at the timeline of events seems daunting. Due to the damage and loss of life in the Carolinas, the name Florence was retired from the Atlantic rotating naming lists by the World Meteorological Organization in 2019. But that doesn’t retire it from memory.

Storm surge along the Neuse River reached heights of 8 to 11 feet, compounded by an additional 16 inches of rainfall. The hurricane spawned 27 tornadoes in our state. Over 1 million North Carolinians lost power, including 17,644 Tideland members. As flood waters receded, Tideland mobilized its largest restoration workforce in the co-op’s history totaling 133 men and women from five states. Over the course of nine days, co-op crews and contractors braved the elements and a landscape that resembled a war zone until every possible service that could be energized was up and running. The price tag to the co-op was well over a million dollars and we remain grateful for the federal funding that helped us offset most of those expenses rather than pass them along to our members.

Today you would be hard pressed to see any evidence of Hurricane Florence as you drive through Tideland territory. Our communities proved to be resilient and in many ways the storm breathed new life into Fairfield Harbour and the surrounding area. Hope was no doubt difficult to find it in the immediate aftermath of Florence but in the weeks, months and years that followed it was there to be found.

We hope you, your family, your business and our communities are better prepared today due to the lessons of hurricanes past. You can rest assured, your electric cooperative is.