Katrina just prior to landfall. Credit: UWisc/ CIMSS
Many people in North Carolina remember Hurricanes Floyd and Fran. Here’s a look at some other storms that made a big impression on our state. Before the 1950s, hurricanes did not have names, but coastal residents never forgot them.
September 7, 1846 — This hurricane was so powerful that it created Oregon and Hatteras inlets. The storm’s pounding waves created channels deep enough for ships to pass through.
September 17, 1876 — Smithville (now Southport), Brunswick, and Wilmington received significant damage from this hurricane. An interesting story connected to the storm comes from Hyde County. During the spring of 1876, the congregation of the Methodist church in Swan Quarter decided to build a new church near the center of town. Sam Sadler, the owner of the land they wanted to buy, refused to sell it and so they purchased another piece of property on the edge of town. On September 14 they completed construction of a small building.
Three days later the hurricane hit, and Swan Quarter was flooded. Floodwaters lifted up the church and carried it to the center of town. After the waters subsided, residents saw that the church had settled down on Sadler’s land! Sadler was also impressed, and he signed a deed giving his land to the church. Today, a sign in front of Providence Church tells visitors that the church was "moved by the hand of God."
August 27–29, 1893—This hurricane was one of three that struck the United States between August and October, and it brought great destruction to the Carolinas. The Great Hurricane of 1893 flooded low-lying communities in South Carolina, killing about 2,000 people and leaving more than 30,000 people homeless. Many of them survived on a ration of "a peck of grits and a pound of pork, per family, per week" for more than nine months. The massive hurricane charted a course that another destructive storm, named Hugo, followed almost a century later.
September 15–16, 1933 — The "storm of ’33" pushed through Pamlico Sound with intense winds, flooding the river basins of the Neuse and the Pamlico. In Beaufort and New Bern, the wind speed was estimated at 125 miles per hour. The storm left 21 people dead and caused $3 million worth of damage.
In New Bern, the fierce winds blew the roof off a boathouse, which landed upright a quarter mile downriver—with the boat inside! The boat had been suspended from the rafters, and it was still intact.
September 14, 1944 — Some people living along the Outer Banks consider this hurricane the "worst ever." On Ocracoke, the tide rose four feet in many houses, and residents opened their doors to the rising waters to keep their homes in place. It was said that fish were trapped under furniture and left behind when waters receded. The most serious flooding occurred in Avon. Houses drifted about and crashed into each other. One young girl became seasick while huddled with her family on the second floor of their home!
Adapted from North Carolina's by Jay Barnes.What makes a hurricane?What rotates counter-clockwise at over 74 mph around an eye? A hurricane!
A hurricane is a type of storm that develops in the tropics near the equator. Most form during hurricane season, which occurs between June 1 and November 30 each year, with peak season from mid-August to October.
The life cycle of a hurricane has four different stages: tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, and finally hurricane. The key factor that determines a hurricane is wind speed. Once sustained winds are greater than 74 miles per hour, the storm becomes an official hurricane and is given a name as well as a classification on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. This scale rates the hurricane’s intensity and provides an estimate of potential property damage and flooding.
Printer Friendly
Email to a Friend
Enlarge Font
Decrease Font
