Have You Ever Heard of Hurricane Hazel?

Hurricane Hazel blasted through eastern North Carolina in October of 1954. Nineteen at the time, and my father, decades later, still talked about the force of the wind as he pushed against the windows in his parents’ house so that they wouldn’t break. By the time this storm, the only Category 4 hurricane to hit the North Carolina coast, ended, it had killed over 600 people and left billions of dollars of damage from Haiti to Toronto. These numbers show that it was the deadliest and most costly hurricane of that season.

Here in North Carolina, we hold our breath during Hurricane season, typically from June through November, because we’ve endured several big storms in the last few years. The most recent one was Hurricane Isaias in 2020, but Matthew, Florence, Fran, and Floyd are storms that people still talk about. My husband and I lived in Charlotte when Hugo came through in 1989.

Here’s a picture of what our pond does during and after hurricanes…jumps the bank and spreads into our front year.

Here’s a picture of what happened during and after Hurricane Florence inside our house.

I used Hurricane Hazel as the inspiration for the name of Ginny’s cousin in “A Hatteras Surprise.” Hazel is a force of her own, and she was a lot of fun to write. I like her spunk, how much she loves Ginny, and her bundle of contradictions. She has a music degree from Meredith College, has a beautiful voice, and plays drums in the praise band of her church, but you’d never know it behind her flannel shirts and crusty demeanor. She knows the differences in rods and reels and bait and loves to cook, too.

Have you ever experienced a hurricane or some other kind of weather worthy of the Weather Channel? Tell me in the comments!