Yale Climate Connections discusses What it’s like to own a small business on the front line of sea-level rise. Jamie Anderson’s bookstore in Manteo, North Carolina, has flooded six times in eight years.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks are dotted with vacation beaches and historic communities. But the sweeping water views do not only draw tourists. They give locals a front row seat to sea-level rise.
Many, like Jamie Anderson, face more frequent floods. Anderson is the owner of Downtown Books on Roanoke Island. Since she opened the store there eight years ago, it’s flooded six times, with anywhere from an inch to two feet of water.
Sometimes storms are the cause, and other times all it takes is wind and a high tide.
“No rain, no hurricane, but water’s an inch deep in my store,” Anderson says.
To protect her inventory, Anderson keeps books off the floor.