in their words
THE AUTHO R
Storm Watch
IS A DUK E P RO F E SSO R OF ME DICINE A ND IMMUN OLOGY WH O HAS LIVE D IN D URH A M S IN CE THE L AT E ’ 7 0 S .
B Y DAV I D S . P I S ET S KY, M.D., PH.D.
T
HIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT the finals of the North Carolina State Senior Games. After months of training, I was looking forward to competing and writing about my dash to the finish line. Along with many other events, the Senior Games were cancelled because of Hurricane Florence, now rescheduled for November. Instead, this column will concern Hurricane Florence, although we all know that Hurricane Michael struck shortly afterwards. While parts of the state suffered horrendously from Florence, Durham was relatively spared despite a pounding of high wind and torrential rain, which came on Sunday and Monday, later than expected. On the preceding Thursday and Friday, Durham closed the schools, and Duke Hospital and the VA Hospital were open only for emergencies. In preparation for Florence’s arrival, the airlines curtailed their operations at RDU, and Durham became curiously quiet. The traffic on 147 also tapered off as people hunkered down at home. Of course, there was a run on the supermarkets. The shelves for bread, water and canned soup were completely bare, and there was no milk to be found. Fortunately, Guglhupf still had loaves of multigrain and muesli bread, and I stocked up. On the Sunday afternoon before the rains came, I took a walk in my neighborhood. The air was thick and heavy as blue-gray clouds swirled and roiled. Many
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neighbors were also out, looking anxiously at the menacing sky, trying to divine Florence’s arrival. I chatted with one neighbor who seemed excited about the impending storm. “Whatever happens,” he said, “it will be an experience.” He regaled me with the story of a past hurricane when Hermitage Court lost electricity because of downed power lines and exploding transformers. “Someone put a generator in the middle of the street, and people took turns attaching their extension cords to get some power to keep the refrigerators cold.” When the rains finally came, I was frankly scared, so intense was the deluge. The amount of rain that fell on North Carolina was unbelievable. I have heard estimates of 8 trillion gallons. I have no context for that amount of water although one newsman said that it’s enough to fill Jordan Lake 600 times. Another said it could cover the state of Texas with four inches of water. For Forest Hills and other old neighborhoods like Trinity Park, Duke Park and Watts-Hillandale, the danger from hurricanes comes not just from flooding but the calamity that happens when trees are knocked over by high winds. Part of the charm of these neighborhoods is the so-called urban tree canopy. While it may be hard to believe, streetscape greenery is associated with better health, including less obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes as shown in a study from Sacramento, California, published in the journal.* Like many other things in Durham, the location of trees has a history from a time when the city was a very different place. Back in the 1930s, many willow oaks were planted in Durham, but the distribution was unequal. The wealthier neighborhoods got the trees while the poorer, African-American neighborhoods in East Durham did not, leading to a bleaker and less wholesome environment. One of the problems with the binge of oak planting in the last century is that many of these trees are dying and are prone to falling even during an ordinary thunderstorm, let alone a Category 4 hurricane. While the trunks of these trees look worthy of a giant redwood, the insides are rotting and hollow. The root system is also weak, and when the ground gets soaked, the roots cannot keep the tree upright.