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Scientists Warn Of Deluges, Droughts In Carolinas

Experts are warning that the Carolinas face a future that's both drier and wetter. Droughts and floods are in the forecast.

Scientists, farmers and water managers met in Charlotte this week to try to figure out how to deal with coming dry weather. And they say sudden deluges will become more common.

Preparing for the future was the focus of the Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference, which ended Wednesday.

According to the Charlotte Observer, experts cited the extensive flooding in South Carolina last October. That was the worst weather disaster to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

They also point to the more than two feet of rain in three days that fell in Louisiana last month.

Susan White is with the University of North Carolina's Water Resources Research Institute. White says the Southeast faces a future of too much water, too little water, and water coming at the wrong times.

And she warns that rising sea levels will amplify flooding on the coast.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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