Roughly one-third of public schools in Beaufort County have portions of their school properties located in flood zones.

This issue comes with little surprise, however, considering the amount of low-lying areas throughout the county and its susceptibility to tropical weather.

School properties in the flood zone include: the cafeteria at S.W. Snowden Elementary School; the annex, gym and unused class spaces at Beaufort County Ed Tech Center; two sides of the Northside High School property, but not the school building itself; all property around John Cotten Tayloe, but not the school itself; and all the property around Northeast Elementary School, but not the school itself.

The plant operations and technology building for central services is also located in the flood zone, according to Stan Hudson, executive director of auxiliary services.

The Pew Charitable Trusts recently conducted a nationwide study of all counties and their schools in a flood zone, as part of the Flood-Prepared Communities initiative. Each county was awarded a composite risk score based off of three factors: each school’s location within a flood zone; the amount of land within a school’s zip code located in a flood zone; and the number of flood-related disaster declarations.

“When communities flood, schools can lose the ability to provide these essential community services, classrooms can be disrupted and damaged, and educational resources can be lost,” according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. “This can also lead to insurmountable repair costs for school districts and local governments, forcing communities to rely on the federal government for support.”

Beaufort County received a composite risk score of 0.82, which is toward the lower end of the spectrum. Hyde County scored at the highest level of risk out of all North Carolina counties, followed by Dare and Tyrrell counties. Cherokee County was scored as having the lowest risk.

In the event of flooding, Beaufort County officials are well trained on what to do, including at the school level.

“We involve all local, state and federal emergency management agencies, along with major utilities companies, in the event of flooding,” Hudson wrote in an email. “Flood prep varies based on the conditions, but everything from sandbags at entrances to cutting gas and power are on the table depending on the situation.”

Hudson recalled two minor flood-damage instances since 1999. In 1999, S.W. Snowden’s cafeteria experienced minor flooding. The second instance occurred last year at Northside High, as one classroom experienced minor flooding and had damaged tile.