The abandoned downtown of Fair Bluff, N.C., five years since flooding from Hurricane Matthew devastated the small town, on June 18, 2021.
Climate shocks are pushing small rural communities like Fair Bluff, many of which were already struggling economically, to the brink of insolvency. Rather than bouncing back, places hit repeatedly by hurricanes, floods and wildfires are unraveling; residents and employers leave, the tax base shrinks, and it becomes even harder to fund basic services.
Some stores were strewn with cleaning supplies and half-full garbage bags, as if shopkeepers had first tried to fix the flood damage before giving up. But clearing the old downtown could cost $10 million — money Fair Bluff does not have, Leonard said. And while the EDA is funding a new commercial building, other federal agencies are paying for residents to leave — residents who might have been customers for those new shops.
More buyouts would make it even harder for the town to survive financially, Leonard said. “Those folks have decided to stay in Fair Bluff,” he said. “Who are we to say, ‘We want you to leave?’”A few blocks south of Main Street, Barbara Vereen lives in a modest white house. After Hurricane Matthew, Vereen, 64, moved in with relatives while her flooded house was repaired. Then came Hurricane Florence, displacing her another six months.
The first option is becoming more expensive and less effective as disasters mount. The second option is usually too painful to even consider. As residents left and tax revenue shrank, so did the town’s role in daily life. The county took over policing as well as water and sewer services and tax collection. A contractor handles trash pickup.
But as the Corps plans the new levee, FEMA and HUD have begun providing people with money to leave. Since Matthew, FEMA is paying for the state to buy and tear down 22 homes. HUD is paying to buy another 27, and more could follow. Floyd cut the population of Seven Springs by about half; Matthew cut it again. Of the 30 or so houses left between the river and the highway, maybe a dozen are still occupied, said Stephen Potter, the mayor. The population, which peaked at 207 in 1960, had dwindled to 55 by last year.