Geomorphic impacts of Hurricane Florence on the lower Neuse River: Portents and particulars

Abstract

In September 2018 Hurricane Florence had severe impacts on the lower Neuse River and Neuse estuary, North Carolina, despite the fact that it was a minor storm in terms of traditional indicators of storm intensity. The storm was consistent with recent trends and predictions of tropical cyclone activity driven by Anthropocene climate warming. However, its impacts in the Neuse area were also conditioned by idiosyncratic aspects of the geographic setting and the synoptic situation. Geomorphic changes examined here include erosion of estuarine shoreline bluffs, geomorphic transformations of small freshwater swamps, and effects on the river and floodplain upstream of the estuary. The shoreline changes caused by Florence were unique with respect to previous tropical cyclones and ongoing episodic erosion, due to the extraordinarily high and unusually long duration of storm surge. Transformations of the “ravine swamps”—mainly associated with deposition of >0.6 m of sand on organic muck and open water surfaces—were similarly unprecedented. Despite high river discharges (third highest on record) and the high storm surge, fluvial impacts in the lower river and fluvial-estuarine transition zone were minimal. This is attributable to the morphology of the channel-floodplain system, adapted to Holocene sea-level rise and preserved by wetlands protection programs. The large area of the storm, slow forward movement, and extreme rainfall of Florence are likely indicative of a “new normal” with respect to tropical cyclones in the region. However, the geomorphic impacts in the lower Neuse were largely determined by particulars of the Neuse estuary and Florence's storm track. An exception is the limited impacts on the lower fluvial portion of the river and the fluvial-estuarine transition zone, where there exists a complex mosaic of channels and flowing wetlands capable of accommodating extreme discharges.