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Hurricane Floyd

This is the page where I put up the latest info. This page covers the record-breaking natural disaster that tore through NC in '99. To read about the record-breaking snow that covered central North Carolina, go here.

Content on this page can be accessed from www.wral-tv.com and ncstormtrack.com. I'm giving credit where credit is due.

Images of the Storm

Raleigh Webcam Shot after the worst was past
Flood Areas Watches and warnings after/while the storm passed through. I'm in the county south of Raleigh.
Rain Concentration Map Rain on radar from hurricane.
Satellite Map The lessened Floyd and strengthening Gert.
Windband Image The once category 4 hurricane now as a category 1.

Storm Aftermath Images

Raleigh U-haul The effects of Floyd on a downtown business. WRAL 5
Castlehane, NC(bird's eye view) - Anyone care for a swim down mainstreet? Nando Times
Flamingo Refugees - This is actually precaution taken at a Florida zoo for Hurricane Floyd. Not everyday you have to fight big birds to use the toilet. Nando Times
Greenville, NC - NC's cash crop, tobacco, floating down the lane. Nando Times
Hanging Stoplight - exactly what you think it is. Nando Times
Pitt County, NC(bird's eye view) - submerged town. WRAL 5
Flooded Airport - Try taking off in that! WRAL 5
Rooftops - flood waters hide the rest of the buildings. WRAL 5
Evacuation of Charleston, SC - And I thought rushhour was bad.... Family friend who lives in Charleston said it took 16 hours to go 8 miles!!! Nando Times
Goldsboro,NC - Autoworld becomes waterworld. WRAL 5

High winds took out power across the state. Many areas were subject to flooding, particularly Raleigh. Shelters opened in regions targeted by the storm. Turn out to shelters was higher than during Hurricane Fran. Many trees were lost in central and eastern North Carolina counties. In my neighborhood, major tree limbs were down and some blocked roads. Thankfully, no limbs were lost on our property (That's a first!!) Cleanup began the following morning by residents. Electricity and phone services were quickly repaired by NC's wonderful crews :-D

[Update: Death count is now officially up to 32 on account of Hurricane Floyd. Flood waters are rising so damage will continue until it recedes.]
WRAL News Excerpt

September 16, 1999

It's Here - Floyd Charges Ashore, Flooding Carolina Coasts

By Scott Mooneyham

[quote]WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) -- Hurricane Floyd roared ashore today near Cape Fear with 110 mph wind, then quickly weakened after flooding the coasts of the Carolinas and Virginia with more than a foot of rain and chasing tens of thousands of people into shelters.

Some 1.4 million utility customers from South Carolina to New Jersey lost power, and 125,000 still had no power today in Florida. Flooding and power failures combined to shut down Portsmouth, Va.'s water supply system, which serves 110,000 customers.

Schools were closed today for more than 2 million youngsters.

At least seven deaths were blamed on Floyd
...
President Clinton declared a major disaster today in North Carolina, and released $528 million to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help hurricane victims.

The wind set a Ferris wheel spinning on its own at Ocean City, Md., and overturned an empty truck on the high Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Virginia closed the 18-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and New York City shut down the exposed upper deck of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

Authorities had urged more than 2.6 million people along the southern Atlantic coast to clear out of Floyd's path - the biggest [peacetime] evacuation in U.S. history - and more people were urged to evacuate today in parts of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Long Island.

In the Wilmington area, a runaway sailboat jammed the drawbridge linking the city to Wrightsville Beach, closing the only link to the barrier island, and a church steeple was toppled in Beaufort.

On North Carolina's Outer Banks, already punished by Hurricane Dennis earlier this month, Floyd blew the roofs off two motels in Nags Head.
...
Six twisters damaged homes and churches in North Carolina
...
``We've got the worst flooding we've ever had in a storm,'' North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt said today.

Areas of the North Carolina coast and the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina had gotten up to 16 inches of rain, and a foot fell on Virginia's Tidewater region. Wilmington got 13 inches before the rain stopped.

Four of the deaths were in North Carolina, and one storm-related death was reported in South Carolina and one in Virginia. In addition, one person was presumed dead in the Bahamas.
...
In the Bahamas, Floyd had smashed hundreds of homes and knocked out utilities. One entire village was swept out to sea but all the residents had been evacuated before the hurricane struck.
[end quote]

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