Hurricane Hazel has not dimmed 

 through the years. 



"We'd hoped to float to this sand 

 dune that stood between the house and 

 Davis Creek," Connie recalls. "But we 

 didn't count on the winds shifting on 

 the other side of the eye. Instead we 

 were pushed across Davis Creek into 

 the top of some scrub oaks that stood 

 thirty feet off the ground." 



After a few hours the waters began 

 to recede. "It was like taking the stop- 

 per out of a bathtub," she says. "If we 

 hadn't had those trees to hold on to we 

 would have been sucked out to sea." 



After the hurricane had spent its 

 energies and moved on, the Helms 

 climbed from their tree-top perch and 

 began their walk off the island. "The 

 area was totally demolished," she says. 

 "The dunes were leveled. It was like a 

 scene out of one of those nineteen- 

 fif ties science-fiction movies." 



Living through a hurricane as 

 ferocious as Hazel taught Connie a 

 healthy respect for the storms. She 

 knows she was lucky to live through it; 

 19 other people didn't. "Being in a 

 hurricane is not a thrill," she says. 

 "People should pay attention to the 

 warnings issued by the National 

 Weather Service. They may not have 

 control over the loss of their property 

 or the savings they have invested in it, 

 but they do have control over saving 

 their own lives." 



But there are only a few people like 

 Connie Ledgett — people who have ex- 

 perienced a hurricane — living along 

 the North Carolina coast now. And 

 this worries experts at the National 

 Weather Service and the state Divi- 

 sion of Emergency Management. 

 They're afraid large portions of the 

 coastal population, unaware of 

 hurricane hazards, will not respond to 

 hurricane warnings and evacuation 

 notices. 



John Sanders, UNC Sea Grant's 

 coastal weather awareness specialist, 

 says as little as 10 to 15 percent of the 

 present coastal population have any 

 prior experience with a hurricane. And, 

 he says, if you allow for tourists, which 

 can increase the population of an area 

 like Atlantic Beach ten-fold, then an 

 even larger percentage of inexperi- 

 enced people are involved. 



Sanders says coastal growth in areas 

 such as Dare, Carteret and New 

 Hanover counties has compounded 

 problems. Dare County's population 

 has doubled since 1960 (North 

 Carolina's last encounter with a major 



hurricane). The population for the 

 town of Atlantic Beach has increased 

 twelve-fold. Most of these residents 

 are new to the area and new to the 

 hazards of a hurricane, Sanders says. 



In a study Sanders conducted in 

 Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1979, 

 people were asked how much they un- 

 derstood about hurricanes. Results 

 showed that 78 percent of those sur- 

 veyed understood that strong winds 

 accompanied the hurricane; 33 percent 



Photo by Gregg Gandy 



\ 



"It was like taking the stopper 

 out of a bathtub. If we hadn't 

 had those trees to hold on to we 

 would have been sucked out to 

 sea." 



— Connie Ledgett 



were aware of a hurricane's storm 

 surge — the huge waves and storm tides 

 which may reach 25 feet or more as a 

 hurricane moves ashore; 12 percent 

 understood flooding accompanied a 

 hurricane. Yet, Sanders says, nine out 

 of 10 hurricane-related deaths oc- 

 curred because of drowning and most 

 property damage is caused by the 

 storm surge and flooding. 



"The fact that North Carolina has 

 not been hit by a serious hurricane in 

 20 years is a problem in itself," says 

 Bob Muller, meteorologist-in-charge 

 and area coordinator of the National 



Weather Service (NWS) in Raleigh. 

 "The public is apathetic about 

 hurricanes. They haven't come against 

 one so they no longer see them as a 

 threat they need to be concerned 

 with." 



During brushes with Hurricane 

 David and Bret, people actually 

 flocked to coastal areas to watch 

 nature's fireworks in action. "I think 

 there is a tendency for people to think 

 Mother Nature is not that cruel," says 

 Al Hinn, meteorologist-in-charge with 

 the NWS in Wilmington, "They don't 

 want to think there is anything so 

 potentially dangerous it could destroy 

 something they've built or them- 

 selves." 



Gil Clark, a hurricane forecaster 

 with the National Hurricane Center in 

 Miami, says North Carolina is in an 

 area where hurricanes recurve. It's 

 usually between Cape Hatteras and 

 Bermuda that hurricanes swing either 

 northeast or northwest, he says. 



"Over the past twenty years most of 

 the storms have tracked northeast, 

 and North Carolina has been on the 

 weak side of the storm," he says. But 

 he points out that if a hurricane were 

 to move into North Carolina the warn- 

 ing time could be very short. "Because 

 of the latitude of North Carolina and 

 because the state is in that area where 

 hurricanes recurve we'd be lucky if we 

 had twelve hours warning time," he 

 says. "And we usually have at least 

 twenty-four hours in the Gulf." 



Clark says he advises every coastal 

 family to work out a family 

 preparedness plan beforehand. "They 

 should have a definite idea of how 

 they're going to evacuate and where 

 they're going," he says. And for those 

 unwilling to evacuate, "ask them their 

 next of kin," Clark says. "That usually 

 brings them out." 



To booster coastal North Carolina's 

 awareness of hurricanes and other 

 coastal storms, like northeasters, the 

 NWS and UNC Sea Grant funded a 

 joint position for a coastal weather 

 awareness specialist and hired Sanders 

 to fill the job. Sanders began working 

 with federal, state and local govern- 

 ment officials, media representatives 

 and local people to increase their 

 knowledge of hurricanes. His activities 

 have included: 



• A series of newspaper columns 

 about hurricanes distributed to coastal 

 newspapers. 



• Local workshops and presenta- 

 tions that encouraged individuals and 



