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hurricanes: remembering 'the big one'

Published Jul. 24, 2008

 

When it comes to hurricanes, everyone has a story about that ONE in particular.

You know the one that either wreaked havoc, or came pretty darn close.

You remember it like it was yesterday and you can recount exactly what you were doing during that time.

Which hurricane had the biggest impact on your life?

 

Cast your vote in the poll on our hurricane section and most importantly, be sure to watch Bill Leslie count down the five biggest hurricanes in North Carolina history on our StormTrack Special which airs next Thursday, July 31 at 7pm on WRAL-TV.

 

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Fran was my welcoming party to North Carolina.. I drove home in the storm, carefully avoided fallen branches, but almost got swept away by the Crabtree creek which was flowing across my street. Upon arriving home, I noticed that water was coming in through my back sliding doors. A plugged drain was causing water to backup and enter my apartment. Within 30 minutes, my back glass doors looked like an aquarium. The doors were holding back about 3 feet of dirty water. By morning the entire downstairs was flooded with about 8 inches of dirty water. Both our new cars were flooded.. Fortunately, both started and we were able to dry them out over the next few weeks. The walls in the downstairs were covered in mold. All the appliances were destroyed and the carpets were trashed. We lost all our groceries. The red cross came, asked if we had lost anything, I told them $350 worth of grocieries but they never helped us.
trianglerelic
October 6, 2008 6:51 p.m.
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Hurricane Dennis was the scarey one for me. We had gone to Emerald Isle for the weekend because we thought Dennis was gone. It turned back, and we were trapped on the island. I watched walls of water, some 10 ft. tall, chop up and down on the Sound from the window of a double wide mobile home. Thank goodness we were safe, BUT when I got back home to Vance County, my den roof (only flat roof on the house) had several huge leaks, and 6 inches of water was on standing on the den floor.

Also, Hurricane Hazel hit when I was about 5 yrs. old. All I kept hearing from my parents were, 'Hazel is coming,' and how bad it was going to be. I thought they were talking about a lady at our church. Mmm, should couldn't be that bad, she gave me chewing gum on Sundays!
thebreeze2
September 26, 2008 1:12 a.m.
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Floyd is the one that I remember the most. I was a senior in HS in Greenville. My aunt had just had a baby and brought her home the day the storm hit. We were w/out water for what seemed like months. We were having to boil water on the gas grill to make her bottles with. Once Hwy 264 opened, we were able to get her and the baby to another aunts' house in Wilson, they had a generator. I remember standing in line waiting to get bottled water and formula. Red Cross had set up a help station behind my neighborhood and I would walk there every day to take calls from family members looking for loved ones. I also gathered a group of my friends and we took stuffed animals, books, coloring books, and games to some of the shelters for the kids there. We would spend about 3 hours there a day "baby sitting" so the parents could have a break. You never understand what other people are going through until you have been there yourself. My prayers are with those at this time.
calsgal21
September 18, 2008 9:57 p.m.
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I have been through several typhoons in the Philippines, and a couple of hurricanes, but none were nearer the coast than Moore County. The weirdest typhoon I have even seen was Typhoon Iniki in Sep 92. It destroyed alot in Haiwaii then headed north. We were out moose hunting out in the central part of the interior of Alaska. It started to rain, then changed to snow and we ended up getting about 2 foot of snow in three days!! It was weird. If you look at our temp records and all winter records for interior Alaska were set in 1992. We had snow on the ground that year from Sep 10th-till the first of June the next year!!! Typhoon Iniki, too weird!!
Click to view my profile yukonjohn3
GOLO member since November 7, 2007
September 17, 2008 3:10 a.m.
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two hurricanes stick with me. i was inthe first grade when hazel went through.don't remember much.fran was the other.i just lost my wife 9 months earlier and was still dealing with grief.trees were down and had no power for 9 days.i remember like yesterdy.
slastonecold
GOLO member since November 13, 2007
September 10, 2008 10:43 a.m.
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Hurricane Andrew, sticks in my mind as I gave birth to my youngest child at home in Sunrise, FL during the storm. My labor started as the rain started and she was born when we were told it was safe to go outside! Quite an experience!
fchorrocks
September 6, 2008 10:49 p.m.
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Hurricane Fran still sticks in my head after twelve years. I was fourteen and had just begun high school. I remember we had band practice and everyone was in a panic because it had started to rain. I remember telling everyone I would see them tomorrow because I always thought that hurricanes couldn't come inland. Boy was I wrong. I slept soundly through the storm unlike the rest of my family who stayed up and listened to the destuction and flooding going on outside. My mother would tell me that my brother and her friend wanted to go to the shelter, however by the time the storm hit, it was safer to stay inside. When I woke up the next morning everything was quiet. No busses, city or school came through the neighborhood. In fact when I went to look at the back yard, there was a river litterally flowing back there. Also I remember that food was hard to come by. We ate Spam with potato bread and caffine free diet Coke. After Fran my mentality changed. I learned to expect the unexpected.
Click to view my profile airbornegirl16
GOLO member since June 17, 2008
September 6, 2008 10:44 a.m.
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Fran. I was 16. We had alot of family, friends and their pets to come to our house to get out of their mobile homes. Maybe 10+ people. The walls shook. The house shook. A couple of the men decided to go ride and see what was goin on. Well, let's just say they haven't wanted to ride around in a bad storm again. The worst part was no water or power for days!! I was 16 and "rough'in it" was fun at all. We took "bird baths" from the pool water. We made coffee from the pool water too. Trees were down everywhere. It took us an hour to get 10 miles down the road to check on my grandparents. Granted Fran was bad, Bonnie seemed bad to me too. I had just had me son and was discharged from the hospital the morning of the storm. I was more scared then. I guess I was scared because of my new baby. Personally, I love storms. I don't want the damage or for people to get hurt but it's just interesting. I wanted to go to the beach for Hanna.
Click to view my profile hol652
GOLO member since January 21, 2008
September 6, 2008 9:43 a.m.
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Fran was definitely the worst for me. We lost four large oak trees and three of them were on our house. My brother ived in a mobile home and came to stay with us. One of trees landed on his new car. The vinyl underpinning didnt even blow down under his mobile home. All in all, we lost 3 cars. The two weeks without power was awful, but with gas stove I could cook and water from the reservoir where I live, we could use the commodes. Whew..... glad that one is over.
awomnsptofview
September 5, 2008 5:00 p.m.
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In terms of this area, for me, I would say Fran. I still remember it vividly...and I was just a young kid then living in Chapel Hill. I remember staying awake all night with my family huddled around as we heard trees snapping and breaking. Then the eerie sound of the wind howling like a freight train. Back in the woods, trees were flattened...almost looked like a mesocyclone had come roaring through. Somehow, we were lucky...others weren't and had trees come crashing down through their homes.
Click to view my profile GinkgoPhyta
GOLO member since May 18, 2008
September 5, 2008 4:49 p.m.
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