The One-Two Punch

In Columbus County, North Carolina, the collapse of the tobacco economy coincided with the loss of textile jobs to outsourcing in the 1990's. The region, sitting just inland from the coast, on the border of South Carolina, has been struggling economically since. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew made a surprise turn and hit Columbus County hard. Fair Bluff, a town of 951 people in the county's southwest corner, bore the brunt of the damage when the Lumber River overflowed.

These photographs were made as part of an ongoing project to document rural Columbus and Robeson Counties.