i f f Tj PI 

 Floyd was a 



55 



recalls veteran meteorologist Steve Harried For 

 the first time in his forecasting career that spanned 

 more than three decades, he was scared. '1 knew 

 we were looking at a catastrophic event" 



It's been five years since Hurricane Floyd 

 flooded the state's coastal plain with misery, but 

 for Hamed and thousands of North Carolinians, 

 memories of the 1999 storm are razor sharp. 



'It's the only weather system in my career 

 that actually frightened me," says Hamed, then 

 meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather 

 Service Forecast Office (NWS) in Raleigh — 

 the office responsible for weather and river flood 

 forecasting for the state. 



Until he retired in July 2004 with 36 

 years of service in the National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hamed 

 worked to improve flood forecasting — and 

 communicating timely, understandable warnings 

 to the public. 



In the weeks, days and hours before 

 Hurricane Floyd struck the coast, a network of 

 NWS meteorologists tracked the giant storm 

 along its Atlantic course — from birth as a 

 tropica] depression in waters west of Africa on 

 Sept. 2 to maturity as a Category 4 hurricane 

 roiling toward the U.S. mainland by Sept. 13. 

 Weather scientists churned out hundreds 

 of computer models to match the storm's 

 idiosyncrasies and predict where it might come 

 ashore. 



"Millions evacuated coastal areas along 

 Florida, Georgia and South Carolina in 

 anticipation of a totally destructive landfall," 

 Hamed points out. "Its size and its winds were 

 immense." 



Floyd came within 1 10 miles of Florida's 

 Cape Canaveral — then shifted its course to take 

 dead aim at North Carolina. 



16 AUTUMN 2004 



Continued 



