Cooper praises Edenton officials for town-produced film on 20th anniversary of Isabel recovery efforts

RALEIGH — Edenton officials were recognized by Gov. Roy Cooper at the Governor's Mansion on Thursday for last year's town-produced documentary on Hurricane Isabel detailing the 20-year anniversary of the town's recovery from the 2003 storm.

Edenton Mayor Hackney High and Public Information Officer Tyler Newman were among Cooper's guests at a reception that also included representatives from a number of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or VOADs, who were being recognized for their efforts helping communities recover from storms and natural disasters.

During the reception, Cooper acknowledged Edenton's efforts recovering from the Category 2 hurricane that made landfall in North Carolina on Sept. 18, 2003, causing an estimated $450 million in damage and three deaths, including one in Chowan County. An estimated 60% of all homes and businesses in Chowan suffered structural damage during the storm, largely because of strong winds that felled trees.

Cooper thanked High and Newman for attending Thursday's event and for their work on "Isabel 20," a 71-minute documentary film produced by the town's Public Information Office. The film, which details Isabel's destructive path across Edenton and the recovery efforts that followed, was screened locally at the Taylor Theater in Edenton several times before being posted to YouTube.

A three-minute clip of "Isabel 20" also was shown at Thursday's reception coordinated by the Governor's Office and the N.C. Department of Public Safety. Invitees besides the Edenton officials included representatives of United Way of North Carolina, Team Rubicon, the American Red Cross, the Craven County Disaster Recovery Alliance, and Catholic Charities Disaster Services, an arm of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh.

According to a town press release, Cooper told reception attendees that Edenton is "an example of a community that had once been hard-hit by a natural disaster and recovered through the support of volunteers and neighbors helping neighbors."

"We were extremely humbled and thankful that Governor Cooper and NCDPS have acknowledged Edenton as a case study for how to bounce back from a disaster like Isabel," Newman said in the release. "Mayor High and I were honored to attend and represent Edenton at this prestigious level, and we always appreciate the recognition from our state's highest office."