Environment

The panel responsible for studying sea-level rise along North Carolina's coast met Monday in New Bern. It was the first meeting under a new mandate to look at the forecast for sea-level rise for a shorter time period.

Four years ago the Coastal Resources Commission's science panel issued a dire report saying oceans could rise 39 inches by the year 2100. The state then issued a moratorium on using that prediction for policy purposes. The new guidelines for the science panel call for a 30-year prediction.

State environmental officials are overseeing the installation of special machines in Jordan Lake starting today. 

SolarBees are water circulators intended to prevent algae from storm water runoff from forming in the lake.  Installers are placing a total of 36 machines: 12 in the Haw River arm of the lake and 24 more in the Morgan Creek tributary.  

Susan Massengale is a spokeswoman with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.  She says this step begins 18 months of water testing.

Victims of severe storms and tornadoes that swept through 12 coastal counties in late April are eligible for federal disaster relief loans, if they turn in their applications today.

Business and homeowners, and renters, can apply for loans of varying levels from the Small Business Association. Interest rates are from 2 to 3 percent and can be paid off over 30 years.

Jay MacKenna of the SBA says these loans cover physical and property damage.

State environment officials expect to install 36-solar powered water mixers into Jordan Lake by the end of the month, as part of a two-year trial to find out whether the mixers can prevent algae from growing in the lake, they said.  

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $20.3 million contract for beach re-nourishment just north of Rodanthe. The contract is going to the same Illinois dredging company that re-nourished the beach in Nags Head just before Hurricane Irene hit the area in 2011, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, of Illinois.

The New York Times reports Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea or PED virus killed an estimated 100,000 young pigs each week across the country since the virus was detected last May.

North Carolina continues to suffer.

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture says, no doubt, PED has been a nasty virus and has taken an emotional and financial toll on hog farmers.

Updated July 4 7:15 a.m.: Hurricane Arthur is still a category two hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour. It is moving off the coast, but has left flood waters and downed trees across the Outer Banks. The National Weather Service says the storm surge was as high as four feet overnight.

Update: Highway 12 Could Reopen Saturday

Governor Pat McCrory says the North Carolina coast took less damage than expected from Hurricane Arthur.  

The storm moved north between the Outer Banks and the mainland as a Category 2 hurricane.  Emergency management officials are reporting downed trees and widespread power outages in their damage assessments this morning, but no injuries have been reported.  

The governor encouraged vacationers who might have canceled trips to the coast to renew their plans.

Hurricane Arthur is continuing its path toward North Carolina's Outer Banks. Residents on Hatteras Island are under a mandatory evacuation order. But many other residents and business operators in Dare County are taking a wait-and-see approach to the storm.   Karen Overbey is a manager at the aptly-named Awful Arthur's Oyster Bar in Kill Devil Hills.  She says the hurricane hasn't driven their customers away so far.

Category one Hurricane Arthur has maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour.

Hatteras Island residents have begun a mandatory evacuation this morning, and a State of Emergency has been issued for all of Dare County. Hyde County has issued a voluntary evacuation for Ocracoke Island for 2 p.m. today.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Lara Pagano said North Carolinians can expect to feel the effects of the hurricane's outer bands today.