At 2:30a.m. on September 16th, 1999 Hurricane Floyd made landfall in Wilmington North Carolina. At a strong category two, Hurricane Floyd was nowhere near the strength of Hurricane Fran, but this storm caught everybody by surprise by being the worst natural disaster in the history of North Carolina bringing the worst Agricultural disaster, economic disaster, and environmental disaster the state has ever seen. Though Floyd was only a category two wind gusts were recorded up to one hundred and thirty eight miles per hour in Wrightsville beach. There was a fifteen foot storm surge that poured through the streets of Carolina Beach, one of the largest surges ever. A major reason for the extreme flooding was due to tropical storm Dennis that rolled through ten days earlier, leaving a saturated coast. Flooding throughout North Carolina contributed to thirty five deaths in North Carolina and caused for over 1,500 people to be rescued. Also Floyd killed an estimate 21,500 hogs, 753,000 turkeys, 2.1 million chickens, and 619 cattle along the east coast of North Carolina. The total cost of damage in North Carolina was nearly six billion dollars. Over 8,000 homes were destroyed, 17,000 were left uninhabitable due to damage, and another 56,000 were damaged. Over 500,000 people were left without power in North Carolina.
I was six years old when Hurricane Floyd hit our coast of Wilmington North Carolina. My family waited till the last minute to evacuate our house. We thought that we could ride out the storm, but at around midnight the intercostal waterway began rising into the yard quickly. I remember my parents pulling me out of my bed in the middle of the night and telling me that we were going to stay at my Aunts house who lived forty miles inland. My clearest memory of Floyd was when I was sitting in the back seat of the car; the wind was pounding rain onto the windshields. My cat was frightened if the rising water and climbed on top of the roof of our house. I begged my dad to climb up there and get her. It was around one o’clock now and Floyd was only about fifty miles off the coast. Water began flowing into the house and around our car. My dad wanted to just leave the cat up there and hurry to my Aunts but I refused to leave until he got her. Eventually after many scratches he was able to bring her down and we were able to make it to the safety of my aunt’s house. However, when we returned home the next day, we found our house seven feet under water. Our dock was completely wiped away and we found our boat 400 feet from the water way lodged in the air between two trees. Due to the amount of water that came into the house, we had to bulldoze it down and rebuild a much stronger and higher house.
The question I want to leave to is, what do you remember about Hurricane Floyd?
Sources: NOAA, FEMA, N.C. Department of Agriculture
Paula Bruner documents the sand that was piled, up to 4 feet in places, in front of her vacation/rental home along Carolina Beach Avenue North at Carolina Beach. Front end loaders slowly remove sand in the background in this photo from December 17, 1999. Photograph courtesy of Wilmington Star-News.
Hurricane Floyd caused severe tidal surge that brought sand with it onto the homes and streets on the North end of the island. This picture shows the strength of the tidal surges, walking on the North end of the island you won’t be able to know where the beach ended and the road starts.
Part 1 of a 4 part series. The other 3 parts will be posted soon.
This is a 4 part documentary done that goes through Hurricane Dennis to present day. This documentary shows the causes, the damage, and the effects of Hurricane Floyd. Some parts of the video may be repetitive but it does a great job drawing up a picture of what happened during Floyd.
This first video of the four part series shows everything that went on leading up to Floyds land fall. Starting with Dennis, a small hurricane that hit days before Floyd, that played a major role in the flooding from Hurricane Floyd.
A pile of dead pigs waiting to be incinerated at a hog farm ten miles south of Trenton North Carolina. This photo was taken Tuesday September twenty first, five days after Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina. These pigs were trapped inside their swine houses when floods from the Neuse River surrounded them.
This picture represents the devastating agricultural lose that came from Hurricane Floyd. This is one of many hog farms that got flooded out during the hurricane. Floyd killed millions of hogs, chickens, cattle, and turkey. Also the environmental impact from the rotting animals, the animal waste, and the fertilizer caused the worst environmental disaster in North Carolina history.
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