Stormy Summer 2019

Oct 15, 2019

Was Hazel North Carolina’s Worst-Case Hurricane?

This is the final post in our “Stormy Summer” series looking back at some memorable hurricane anniversaries occurring in 2019. No discussion about North Carolina’s significant historical hurricanes is complete without including Hazel, which hit the state 65 years ago today. In terms of intensity, Hazel is in a league of its own. Despite our…

Oct 9, 2019

A Tropical Trio in September 2004 Tested the Mountain Terrain

This is the fifth post in our “Stormy Summer” series looking back at some memorable hurricane anniversaries occurring in 2019. Long after their hurricane-force winds had worn off and they left Florida in varying degrees of disrepair, three storms in September 2004 moved up the east coast and showed they weren’t done dealing damage just…

Sep 23, 2019

How Howling Hugo Became the Western Piedmont’s Worst Hurricane

This is the fourth post in our “Stormy Summer” series looking back at some memorable hurricane anniversaries occurring in 2019. Well inland from the tempest-tossed coastline, one part of North Carolina would seem to be a safe haven from the hazards of hurricanes. The western Piedmont is at least a three-hour drive from the closest…

Sep 23, 2019

For Duke Energy, No Shelter from Hugo’s Storm

Thirty years ago, Hurricane Hugo tested nearly every aspect of our infrastructure in the Carolinas. Trees and power lines snapped in the storm’s winds, cutting off the electricity that powered everything from water pumps to gas pumps. At the coast, roads and boardwalks were scoured away by the storm surge. Flash flooding in the Mountains…

Sep 16, 2019

Floyd’s Flooding Overwhelmed Eastern North Carolina

This is the third post in our “Stormy Summer” series looking back at some memorable hurricane anniversaries occurring in 2019. Out of almost 150 years of recorded hurricanes in North Carolina through 1999, none were quite like Floyd. When the sixth named storm of the 1999 season arrived at our coast twenty years ago today,…

Sep 16, 2019

Farmers Felt Floyd’s Full Force, Beginning in Onslow County

Perhaps the most famous pictures taken during Hurricane Floyd were not of people but of pigs. Aerial shots showed hog farms flooded by the storm, with the animals who hadn’t drowned riding out the event from the roofs of barns. It wasn’t exactly pigs flying, but the livestock — like the flood waters that drove…

Sep 16, 2019

Floyd’s Inundation Along the Tar River Spurred a Call to Action

Rob Lipford knew it was an unusual event when even the water in his yard was seeking higher ground. At his home in Rocky Mount, the low-lying backyard always tended to fill up first during a heavy rain event. But when several inches of water began creeping around the side of his house toward the…

Sep 12, 2019

Dennis Menaced the Coast and Set the Stage for Floyd

This is the second post in our “Stormy Summer” series looking back at some memorable hurricane anniversaries occurring in 2019. Before the tropical terror that was Hurricane Floyd in September 1999, another storm hit the North Carolina coast, and while its impact at the time was relatively minor, it played a major role in amplifying…

Aug 19, 2019