P UNC Sea Grant 



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North CarottfYa Stjte Llt>rary September, 1982 

 Raleigh 



(OAS I 4 WATCI 



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Photo courtesy of NOAA 



Surviving Hazel, the hard way 



Eye of a hurricane 



The water rose. Dishes crashed and 

 furniture bounced like billiards after a 

 break shot. Connie Helms could feel 

 the water lapping against the ceiling of 

 the first story beneath her. 



It was October 15, 1954. Earlier, 

 Hurricane Hazel had been churning in 

 the Caribbean, while Connie and her 

 husband made their way to Long 

 Beach, for their honeymoon. Connie 

 never thought the storm would hurl its 

 weight at North Carolina. 



But the rains began, then the winds. 

 Waves broke through the dunes and 

 water covered the main road. The 

 Helms were trapped on the island. 

 They abandoned their one-story cot- 

 tage for a two-story frame house 

 nearby. 



From the second-story windows 

 Connie watched the fury of the 

 hurricane unfurl. Winds ripped some 

 houses apart. Waves toppled cement- 

 block houses as if they were built of 

 toy blocks. Other houses rode the 

 waves, crashing into one another. 

 Whirling winds made flying projectiles 



out of boards, furniture and tree limbs. 



As the waters rose higher and finally 

 began lapping the first-story ceiling 

 below their feet, the Helms realized 

 their shelter might topple with the 

 next crash of a wave. To escape, they 

 pushed a mattress out of the window 

 into waters that swirled just inches 

 below the second-story window frame. 

 Connie Helms perched herself on top 

 of the mattress. She and her new hus- 

 band tied themselves together with a 

 flannel blanket. Jerry Helms dropped 

 into the water, catching one corner of 

 the mattress. He pushed the couple 

 away from the house and caught a 

 chunk of floating wall to add buoyancy 

 to the mattress. He knew his 17-year- 

 old bride could not swim. 



A lot has happened in Connie 

 Helm's life since that October day in 

 1954. She is now Connie Ledgett, liv- 

 ing in Southport and serving as ex- 

 ecutive secretary of the 

 Southport/Oak Island Chamber of 

 Commerce. But her memory of 

 Continued on next page 



Photo courtesy of the Division of Archives and History 



A row of houses he toppled like building blocks at Carolina Beach one month after Hazel 



