RAIN CHECK

NEARLY 30 YEARS ago, in September 1996, Hurricane Fran swept through North Carolina. It was the most expensive natural disaster in state history—causing an estimated $10 billion in damage in today’s dollars and killing 37 people across the region. Raleigh took a direct hit, with the storm toppling thousands of trees and dumping nearly 9 inches of rain. In Rochester Heights, a historically Black neighborhood southeast of downtown, most homes were flooded.
This, as it turns out, wasn’t a freak accident. The neighborhood, built beginning in 1957, was among the first suburban enclaves marketed to Black families, who were excluded from other areas of then-segregated Raleigh. It was full of attractive, one-story brick homes with wide, grassy lawns. But because the low-lying neighborhood flanked a swamp that received untreated sewage discharge and stormwater runoff from downtown Raleigh, it was prone to flooding during storms. (Construction of Interstate 40 through the neighborhood more than a decade later made the problem worse.) Eventually, the 1972 Clean Water Act banned unpermitted disposal of raw sewage in wetlands, but by then the marshy land had become an illegal dump-ing ground for other waste, including tires, glass, and old appliances. One resident, 69-year-old Steve Blalock, who's lived in the neighborhood for much of his life, recalls surfing the sewage discharge in a metal tub as a child.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In

Immigrants on the Line
They fled Haiti only to endure brutal working conditions at a Colorado plant run by the world's biggest meatpacker. Now they face deportation.

HOW TO DRIVE ELON MUSK DOWN
If you think mass protests can't combat evil, remember what we did in the 1980s.

GUARANTEED FAILURE
Cash transfer programs are gaining steam, but our current bureaucracy is obscuring their potential.

THE BRUTAL AESTHETICS OF MAGA
Proximity to power might rely on a specific look.

ONE OF AMERICA'S BIGGEST FOR-PROFIT HOSPITAL OPERATORS IS BANKRUPT, BROKEN. AND RESPONSIBLE FOR COUNTLESS MISTREATED PATIENTS— THANKS TO ITS PRIVATE EQUITY OVERLORDS.
She'd never been one to take the easy route, and besides, she wanted to get things moving-and walking seemed the best way to do it.

THE GREAT PRETENDER
A fake campaign loan could have ended Andy Ogles' push for MAGA fame. Then Trump won again.

GET CAUGHT FIGHTING
MAXWELL FROST IS LEARNING THE ROPES OF CONGRESS AND SHOWING HIS OLDER COLLEAGUES HOW TO PUNCH BACK IN THE AGE OF TRUMP.

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
Clearview Al's far-right founders always intended to target immigrants and the political left. Now their facial recognition dragnet is in the hands of the Trump administration.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOREVER
How hybrid homeschools hoover up your state tax dollars