On September 6, 1996 hurricane Fran made a direct impact to the Wilmington coast. Fran packed winds up to 125 miles per hour and brought with it a storm surge of twelve feet. Hurricane Fran is the second worst natural disaster in North Carolina behind Hurricane Floyd. Fran caused 13 fatalities in North Carolina and total damage amounted to roughly 2.4 billion dollars. Some of the highlighted damage from Fran was the complete destruction of the Kure Beach Pier, the multiple boat yards being destroyed, and the collapse of a 113 year old church in downtown Wilmington. A major problem from Hurricane Fran was the flooding that it caused. Since Hurricane Bertha hit only a few weeks prior to Fran the coastal houses had no protection from the dunes that were already eroded. In Carolina Beach floods reached a height of eight feet along the north end and around The Carolina Beach Lake.
Living though Hurricane Fran was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Deciding to ride out the storm, my family bunkered down the house as best we could and hoped for the best. I was only four years old at the time so you can just image the fright going through my mind, I could feel the house swaying, and a foot of water was pouring in through the cracks in the doors and windows. A tree fell through the roof of my bedroom leaving a gaping hole, all my belongings being thrown out into the night from the intensity of the winds. The next morning we were able to see the extent of the damage. Walking off our doorstep into the waste deep water we could see that the dock was completely blown away, every tree around us was blown down and the one that fell through the roof also crushed one of our cars. I remember crying my eyes out when I saw my swing set crushed under a huge pine tree.
Over the next few days the water subsided back into the waterway, we finally regained power after a week. We rebuilt the dock and the house and we cleared out all the downed trees. After about four months of rebuilding, we went about our lives knowing that the next big hurricane that roles through everything will be wiped away again, but this is the price to living in paradise.
The picture above is taken along the north end of Carolina Beach. The beach that the couple is walking on is actually a highway that is buried under a foot of sand. This picture is taken about 2 days after the storm hit, as you can see it will take a lot of time and effort to clear out the sand.
This picture depicts how strong hurricane Fran was. It would take a very strong storm surge to lift up the ocean floor and cover half of Carolina Beach, some places sand was piled up to three feet. This picture also represents the amount of work that needs to be done after a hurricane hits.
This is an amazing link to the WRAL website. It is an interactive page that is remembering the devastation of Hurricane Fran 10 years later. It has multiple videos and pictures of Fran’s impact along the coast of Wilmington and Topsail Island.
This site gets you a firsthand experience of what it was like during Hurricane Fran. The sounds videos and pictures are very real and do an excellent job depicting that the hurricanes that hit North Carolina are very serious and dangerous.
Above is a picture of Hurricane Fran right before the eye tore through Carolina Beach. As you can see the surge has already began and the winds are already over 100 miles per hour. The gap between the two palm trees is where a gas station with a carwash used to stand, but the powerful surge and strong winds wiped it away.
Palm trees are one of the strongest trees in the world and to see them bending like that shows that a very strong wind blowing. Also this picture is taken on the very center of Carolina Beach so the flooding was so bad that it covered the entire island .
“Hurricane Fran Quick Facts.” WRAL <http://www.wral.com/weather/hurricanes/page/8029058/>
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