File:Coast watch (1979) (20470947320).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_4 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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Text Appearing Before Image:
of the hurricanes

Text Appearing After Image:
Gray's prediction model might reveal clues
to why six hurricanes slammed into North
Carolina in 13 months.
"But people should remember,
in "meteorology ... you're rarely going to get
anything that's exact," Pelissier says.
Here's a rundown of the six
storms and the damage they caused:
Carol — Hurricane Carol fanned in
the Bahamas on Aug. 26, 1954 and
brushed North Carolina just east of Cape
Hatteras about 10 p.m. Aug. 30. Because
the beaches were on the west side of the
storm's counterclockwise winds, damage
was not severe. Some crops were de-
stroyed, and some houses and fishing piers
were damaged.
At Cape Hatteras, where winds were
measured at 90 to 100 mph, about 1,000
feet of highway was undermined. Folks
along the Outer Banks cringed with
empathy when they learned the next day
that Carol had made landfall in the New
England states, causing costly destruction
and killing 60 people.
Edna — Only 15 days after the brush
with Carol, Outer Bankers were told that
yet another hurricane, this one named
Edna, was traveling their way. Residents
braced themselves again, but again they
were spared as the great storm passed
about 60 miles east of Cape Hatteras in the
Atlantic. On Sept. 10, winds of about 70
mph were recorded at Cape Hatteras.
Some crops were damaged, some piers
were slapped, and a little more of the
Outer Banks highway washed out. Again,
New Englanders bore the major brunt of
this hurricane.
Hazel — On Oct. 15, 1954, a storm
unlike any other struck the North Carolina
coast with a ferocity not seen before or
since. Her name was Hazel, and even to
mention her sends chills down the spines
of those who survived her wrath.
The Caribbean Sea gave birth to
Hazel in early October. In her 13-day life,
she caused widespread damage from Haiti
to Canada. In North Carolina, she created
$100 million in damage (think what that
would be in 1991 dollars), killed 19 people
and injured 200 others. At least 30 Tar
Heel counties reported damage to buildings.
Hazel struck the North Carolina coast
near Shallotte around 10 p.m. on the 15th
with sustained winds as high as 150 mph.
The following is excerpted from a
report written last year by James D.
Stevenson of the National Weather Service
in Wilmington: 'Wind-driven tides

Continued on the next page

on or near the North Carolina coast, leaving death and destruction in their wakes...

COASTWATCH 7

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