Aida Havel mulled her fate over coffee after working the early voting polls all day in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
asserted
Havel → mull → Hills
“We are trapped,” she concluded.
asserted
she → trap → ?
The Dare county commission candidate lives about 50 miles (80km) south, on Hatteras Island on the state’s Outer Banks.
asserted
candidate → live → Banks
After 8pm, she may as well live on Mars.
uncertain
she → live → Mars
Bad storms wash debris onto the road, the detritus of beach houses ruined by climate change, Havel said.
asserted
Havel → wash → change
Houses collapse because insurers won’t cover demolition until they’re knocked flat into the sand.
asserted
they → collapse → sand
Their skeletons trap the living.
asserted
skeletons → trap → living
Havel fumed.
asserted
Havel → fume → ?
A 45-minute drive has become a four-hour logistical exercise.
asserted
drive → become → ?
“I got in the ferry line at 8am, and there was an 8am ferry, and I knew I wasn’t going to make that one,” Havel said.
asserted
Havel → get → one
I didn’t make that one.
asserted
I → make → one
I got on the 11.00 ferry, and I was the very last car on, and they told me I had to fold in my my side mirrors, and they just squeezed me on.
asserted
they → get → me
I took the ferry over to Stumpy Point, and I got off at 1.05.
asserted
I → take → 1.05
And then I had to drive to Manteo.
asserted
I → have → Manteo
She rented an Airbnb for the week, rather than bother with it again.
asserted
She → rent → it
The North Carolina coast is called the graveyard of the Atlantic, for the thousands of shipwrecks off Cape Hatteras.
asserted
coast → call → Hatteras
Republicans may soon add their ambitions to the sea’s tally.
uncertain
Republicans → add → tally
The Outer Banks are part of North Carolina’s first congressional district, a seat currently held by conservative Democrat Don Davis.
asserted
Banks → hold → Davis
He is locked in a tough race against Republican Laurie Buckhout, made even tougher by the state legislature, which redrew congressional maps in their favor last year and packed more conservative voters into the district.
asserted
which → lock → district
Tar Heel Republicans fare poorly in storms of late.
asserted
Republicans → fare → storms
A lackluster response by the Trump administration to Hurricane Helene is contributing mightily to an impending Republican loss in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district in the western mountains.
asserted
response → contribute → mountains
We are trapped. Residents have heard that line before, from people in Spruce Pine and Burnsville and Green Mountain riding out flooding two years ago on a roof in a Buncombe county holler.
asserted
Residents → trap → holler
Asheville brings in more tourism money.
asserted
Asheville → bring → money
The road outage is killing the business, Havel said.
asserted
Havel → kill → business
“We’ve already had to cancel two fishing tournaments,” she said.
asserted
she → have → tournaments
“The money that people make in the shoulder season keeps them going throughout the winter.
asserted
people → make → winter
They’re losing every bit of that revenue right now.
asserted
They → lose → revenue
Not only the restaurants, not only the shops, the house cleaners, you know?
asserted
you → know → ?
I mean, it’s everybody, it affects everybody and it’s just a complete economic disaster.
asserted
it → mean → everybody
Dare county is the fourth-highest tourism driver in North Carolina … but we can’t get help to fix the road.
asserted
we → get → road
Highway 12 might be a state road, but the National Park Service shares jurisdiction over the seashore and the road is essential infrastructure.
uncertain
road → share → seashore
On 22 October, Fema announced a $101m package of relief measures for North Carolina, some of which will pay for teetering Outer Banks houses to be demolished.
asserted
houses → announce → which
But the shoreline is moving in more than 15ft every year, and there is no long-term plan.
asserted
shoreline → move → ft
Dare county usually votes red.
asserted
county → vote → ?
It may still vote for Republicans, despite the federal government’s indifference to the disaster on the other side of the state.
uncertain
It → vote → state
Affordability matters, “but it may not be No 1 here,” said Craig Jones, a Republican party activist in Dare county as he was handing out flyers outside the county’s polling place.
uncertain
he → matter → place
“We are polarized here, so a lot of Republicans are afraid of the Democrats taking over and losing individual freedom, taxes going up, socialism,” he said.
asserted
he → polarize → freedom
“Dare has a tendency to be a conservative, family-oriented place.
asserted
Dare → have → tendency
Get a lot of vacationers here, but the locals tend to be Republican, tend to be conservative, and they like their individual freedom.”
asserted
they → get → freedom
He said he expects Buckhout to take Dare county: “The other counties, I don’t know.
asserted
I → say → county
…and 93 more, not listed.
The Aporia
