BOOK 



MARKET 



he buzz starts 

 when a meteorologist points 

 out a white, swirling storm 

 cloud on the radar far off in 

 the Atlantic. As the weeks go 

 by, the cloud takes a powerful 

 form and achieves hurricane- 

 naming status. 



Soon, students become 

 hurricane-trackers in their science 

 classes, and folks start to grumble 

 with talk of "funny feelings" that 

 this hurricane could be "the big one." 



Once the storm approaches the 

 United States and takes the almost 

 predictable rum toward North Carolina, 

 a mad dash to the grocery store ensues. 

 Suddenly, bread and milk — along with 

 masking tape, bottled water and large 

 squares of plywood — are nowhere to be 

 found along the coast. 



Throughout the chaos, locals face an 

 important decision: travel inland or ride out 

 the storm one more time. 



With some of the most deadly hurricanes 

 having occurred in the fall, the onslaught of 

 hurricane season 2004 — and the anniversaries of 

 several major storms — sets the mood for good 

 books on hurricanes. 



• FACES FROM THE FLOOD: 

 HURRICANE FLOYD REMEMBERED, 



by Richard Moore and Jay Barnes. 2004. 

 University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 

 NC 27515-2288. 225 pages. Hardback, $29.95. 

 ISBN 0-8078-2861-0. 



This book is about residents of North Caro- 

 lina — from Oak Island to Kinston, Rocky Mount 

 and Greenville — who maintain an undying con- 

 nection to Hurricane Floyd and resulting flooding 

 in September 1999. 



The book is dedicated to the 52 people 

 who lost their lives. But mere descriptions will 

 never express the devastation that, through news 

 coverage and charity efforts, bound affected 

 communities to people across the country. 



Batten Down with a Book 



Faces from the Flood 

 offers an intimate view — 

 small slices of the thousands 

 of personal stories behind 

 the hurricane. Authors 

 Richard Moore and Jay 

 Barnes elicit amazing 

 stories from folks who 

 explain that they did 

 what any good person 

 would do. 



Rocky Mount resident Kurt Barnes fits 

 such a description. Forced to swim through his 

 flooded neighborhood toward high ground, 

 Barnes couldn't forget his neighbors in need. 

 He located a motorboat and steered through 

 torrents of rising water, compounded by high 

 winds and rain — ultimately rescuing 1 8 people 

 stranded on various rooftops, attics and porches. 

 His bravery earned him the 2000 Governor's 

 Award for Heroism. 



The fol- 

 lowing excerpts 

 of personal stories 

 featured in Faces 

 from the Flood: 

 Hurricane Floyd Re- 

 membered need little 

 review or introduction. 



"Wluit scared me so 

 much was the mother 

 with her three-month-old 

 newborn baby. She walked around to get in the 

 boat, and I said, 'Let me have that baby' She 

 lianded the baby to me. We had no lifejacket 

 for that baby, but I had a blanket. So just as slie 

 walked around, I'm trying to hold that baby, hold 

 that boat, and get her in the boat, she walked 

 right offtliat porch. Tlie water was so deep, she 

 didn 'tknow where the porch ended. She just 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 21 



