June 22, 2017

In the months following Hurricane Matthew’s landfall in October 2016, UNC research teams began storm-related projects on topics such as water quality, buy-out programs and coastal resilience.

One of the most destructive hurricanes in the past decade, Matthew delivered 350 millimeters of rain in North Carolina over a 24-hour period. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, the storm caused $1.5 billion in flood damage to 100,000 houses, businesses and government buildings, took the lives of 28 North Carolinians, forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate their homes, and slammed into all 50 N.C. counties.

map of N.C. counties in which UNC researchers are conducting projects related to Hurricane Matthew

Image courtesy of Endeavors

An interactive map, designed for Endeavors magazine, highlights the work of several Gillings School of Global Public Health researchers whose efforts are making an impact upon policy and planning for future storms.

The featured Gillings School researchers are Lawrence S. Engel, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and member of the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; Elizabeth Christenson, MS, doctoral student in environmental sciences and engineering, who works in the lab of Jill Stewart, PhD; Rick Luettich, ScD, director of the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences and professor of environmental sciences and engineering; Rachel Noble, PhD, Mary and Watts Hill Jr. Distinguished Professor of marine sciences and professor of environmental sciences and engineering; and Hans Paerl, PhD, W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of marine sciences and professor of environmental sciences and engineering.

Read about their contributions and view the interactive map here.

A version of this article was published originally in Endeavors, a magazine that features research and creative activity at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


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Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu

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