Hurricane Matthew is currently battering Nassau and will be making landfall in Florida by Friday. This is the first hurricane to rate above a category 3 hurricane since 2005 when Hurricane Wilma hit Cape Romano in southeastern Florida (Hurricane Forecast). As Hurricane Matthew ramps up for its move to Florida on Friday, many are evacuating the area or buying provisions to wait out the storm (Hurricane Impact). With many residence along the south eastern seaboard bracing for the damage to come from Hurricane Matthew, there are some areas that will have no protection.

One such area that could sustain irreparable damage is the community of Salvo on Hatteras Island and their 144-year-old cemetery along the Pamlico Sound. The community has been working to preserve their ancestral cemetery, the Salvo Cemetery, which includes, “men who patrolled Outer Banks beaches for the U.S. Live-Saving Service in the 19th century. Known as surf men, they heroically snatched shipwreck victims from the jaws of death during long ago hurricanes and nor’easters. (NatGeo Islanders),” essentially some of the first Coast Guards. The island cemetery has suffered from severe erosion from the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding sounds, and suffered further with strikes from hurricanes Irene in 2011 and Arthur in 2014 and now Hurricane Matthew may cause more significant damage, “Dawn Taylor said she and others are worried that Matthew will do devastating damage to a 144-year-old cemetery they’ve been battling to save from the Pamlico Sound (NatGeo Hurricane Matthew).”

 

For more information on how to help the Salvo on Hatteras Island Cemetery, click here. Checks also can be sent to the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Civic Association, P.O. Box 323, Rodanthe NC 27968. Donors should write “Salvo Cemetery” on the memo line of the check.

For more information on Hurricane Matthew, click here.

Lastly, our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by Hurricane Matthew. If you would like to help those in need, please donate to the Red Cross.