TRACKING 

 HURRICANE OPHELIA 

 THROUGH 

 NORTH CAROLINA 



Compiled by Erin Seiling 



Hurricane 

 Ophelia 

 lingered 

 for nearly 

 a week off 

 the North 

 Carolina 

 coast — 

 dumping 

 more than 

 a foot of 

 rain and 

 causing 

 severe 

 erosion and 

 property 

 damage 



Ophelia 

 clearly 

 illustrates 

 that even 

 weak 

 tropical 

 systems 

 are a force 

 to be taken 

 seriously. 



CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW: Flooding in Beaufort made Front Street look more 

 like a Venetian canal. Progress Energy employees cleared fallen trees to restore 

 power. Once the flood waters receded, this boat was left high and dry along 

 N. C. 24 in Swansboro. A sand fence in the Wrightsville Beach area was damaged 

 by erosion during the storm. The fence originally sat on top of the dune line. 



he slow-moving nature of Hurricane 

 Ophelia caused more damage than a typical Category 

 1 storm. Portions of the North Carolina oceanfront 

 coastline got pounded for a week with weather typical 

 of winter storms. 



The long-term annual erosion rate along most of 

 the N.C. coast is quite low — approximately 2 feet per 

 year — however, this leads to a false sense of security 

 because it is the short-term events that can cause 

 major loss of sand resulting in tens of feet of erosion 

 in a matter of days or even hours. The Division of 

 Coastal Management currently is assembling the data 

 needed to analyze the short-term annual erosion rate 

 and will present its findings to the Coastal Resources 

 Commission for policy consideration. 



Remember, hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin 

 is not over until November 30th and two more storms 

 have been predicted. 



