North Carolina News

North Carolina County Recovers From Trio of Disasters

Driving along the back roads of Bertie County, it’s hard sometimes to tell one disaster’s damage from another. That huge old tree, its limbs chopped and stacked after falling across a road, was definitely toppled by Hurricane Irene. But what …

North Carolina Defends Workplace Safety Record as Inspections Drop

Twenty years after the worst industrial accident in North Carolina history, there are signs that progress in worker safety made after the deaths of 25 people in a chicken plant fire is beginning to wane. The Charlotte Observer reported Sunday …

North Carolina’s Hickory Point: Small Towns, Big Floods

For Mavis Powers, a lifetime of work and keepsakes were washed away when Hurricane Irene drove a 13-foot storm surge up Muddy Creek and through her home. The 77-year-old doll maker and collector held her head Sunday as she assessed …

Tobacco, Poultry Among North Carolina Farm Losses from Irene

North Carolina farmers felt the financial weight of Hurricane Irene’s winds and heavy rains Sunday as inspections following the storm revealed damage to field crops, poultry and other agricultural businesses. State political and agricultural leaders touring eastern North Carolina the …

Insured Losses from Hurricane Irene in Carolinas Could Reach $400 Million

Hurricane Irene caused between $200 million and $400 million in insured losses in the Carolinas, catastrophe modeling company Eqecat said on Sunday. At 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 27, Irene made its first landfall just west of Cape Lookout, North …

North Carolina Property Insurance Surcharges Unlikely After Irene

Every property owner in North Carolina has a financial stake in the damage risk posed by Hurricane Irene, which could become the first to hit the state since a new method of paying for coastal storm damage allowed for reaching …

Hurricane Irene Batters Bahamas, Threatens Carolinas, Northeast

Hurricane Irene washed away homes in the Bahamas Thursday as its battering winds and rain headed toward the U.S. eastern seaboard including densely populated New York and New England. U.S. emergency officials have urged residents from the Carolinas north to …

North, South Carolina Coastal Insurance Plans Ready for Hurricane Irene

Caught square in the path of Irene, the first major hurricane of the season, the coastal insurance plans in North and South Carolina are prepared to absorb what may be their first major losses in years. Both plans appear to …

Hurricane Irene Seen Skirting Florida, Possibly Landing in Carolinas

Hurricane Irene was expected to strengthen over the next few days and could hit the southeastern United States as a large and powerful storm late in the week, forecasters said Tuesday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center’s forecast indicated Irene, now …

Insurer Sued for Refusal to Hire North Carolina Man in Drug Program

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a national insurance company, contending the firm violated federal law by refusing to hire a North Carolina man after he disclosed he was participating in a methadone treatment program for a drug …