Carolina coast

Check out past hurricane destruction before deciding on the Carolinas.

when was the last destructive hurricane in the Carolina's?

What does that matter? Do you think there will not be another hurricane?
Our friends rebuilt homes twice on the coast, then sold before the third one hit.

North Carolina's Hurricane History
Third Edition
by Jay Barnes
304 pp., 253 photos, 45 maps, 3 tables, index

If a hurricane has not hit recently, then odds are ones due.

"Barnes is the author of "North Carolina's Hurricane History". Like Robert Bodnar, he chronicles the "big ones".


History of North Carolina Hurricanes

North Carolina's history, the kind you'll find in school books, is vibrant. Impressive also is the amount of destruction past hurricanes have wrought on the Tar Heel State.

Hazel, the only Category 4 hurricane to strike North Carolina in the 20th century, killed 19 people and destroyed 15,000 homes in 1954.

Six years later it was Donna's turn, claiming eight lives and causing $25 million in damage.

While Hazel and Donna primarily impacted coastal regions, more recent storms have spread their destruction across a much broader path

According to Barnes, "During Hurricane Hugo, Hurricane Fran and Hurricane Floyd that some of the most significant destruction occurred pretty far way from the coast in the inland areas."

Fran, in 1996, claimed the lives of 24. Category One force winds lashed locations as far west as RDU Airport and Fayetteville

Fifty-one people perished in 1999 at the hands of Floyd.

"The recent experience we've had with Fran and Floyd has taught us different kinds of lessons in these storms will be remembered by our children and our grandchildren as the storm of their generation,” Barnes continued.

September 18, 2003 began cloudy in our part of the state as the sprawling storm known as Isabel surged toward the North Carolina coast. Making landfall just south of Ocracoke Island 1pm, the heaviest rain and most devastating wind associated with Isabel occurred in a path from Morehead City to Greenville to Roanoke Rapids and points east to the Outer Banks. 15 people along the Eastern Seaboard were killed as a result of the storm, property damage was estimated at 4 billion dollars in several states.

The waters today off Atlantic Beach are very quiet but it’s only a matter of when, not if, the next big storm will strike NC. The question is - have we learned enough from the past to be prepared for the big storm of the future?

Bodnar says he's ready and waiting"

I've been active in the NC coastal market for 8 years now. My last real esate purchase was 2.5 years ago. That property is up 70% since then. I plan on retiring there.
I can't wait till another hurricane- people get scared and I'll buy.

seems to be a glut there now...