Hurricane Stories

[deb_in_nc]

I was reading the thread about Camille. I think the people that have lived through them should post them and tell what it was like. It would be helpful to those of us that have never been through one, to hear about it from something besides a book. There's nothing like learning from stories.

Debbie

[cycloneye]

My experience with landfalling hurricanes in my lifetime has been plenty as Hugo,Hortense and Georges had made landfall here in Puerto Rico but the most fearful one was Georges as the eye passed my location in San Juan by 10 miles to my south and being at the northern side and later northeastern side that is the strongest and you can imagine the extensive damage that PR had in september 21 1998.My condo skaked some as those 80-100 mph sustained winds were blowing with some gusts of 120 mph.I dont wish anyone to experience a cat 2 or higher cane in your area.San Juan was without power for 2 weeks and without water for 3 weeks.

[Stormsfury]

My experience from Hurricane Hugo is too long to post here ... but I have already done so on my website and the link below is page one of two of my experience ... page 2 finishes also complete with Satellite and Radar Images of Hugo plus a few others new pictures just recently added.

Personal Account of Hurricane Hugo

[Guest]

I have my own as well and its posted with other stories i got going in a thread in the History forum its in the (1978 Blizzard my first) Thread...........My story is about hurricane Gloria back in 1985...............I have a slew of stories there that i have been a part of so go check them out.......

[Colin]

Well, I never experienced a hurricane, but I have experienced the remnants of Floyd... that story would probably be quite boring since I barely remember it... just lots of flooding and wind.

[timNms]

My first experience with a hurricane was Camille in 1969. I was 7 yrs. old. I don't remember much about it except that we lived in a small three-room house with an outdoor toilet! My mother told me that the winds during the night were at least 100mph sustained. We lost part of our tin roof and our kitchen floor was flooded. Many trees were downed in the woods behind our house. Power was out for at least a week. A couple of years after Camille, my dad added 2 bedrooms and a bathroom to our house.
Fast forward to 1979. Hurricane Frederick paid us a visit. I was in my first semester in junior college. I remember how dirty looking the sky was during the day. The clouds looked dusty. That night the winds howled. I was afraid because I couldn't see what was happening. We lost power sometime before midnight. My aunt lived in a mobile home next door to us. My dad drove to her house in my brother's four wheel drive to get her and her five kids out and bring them to our house. THe next morning, our yard was strewn with limbs and leaves from the oak trees in our yard. Frederick's eye passed very near the junior college i was attending. Huge pecan trees were uprooted by the high winds. We were fortunate again to have missed any major damage to our house.
1985 brought another visitor to our house. THis time her name was Elena. What a storm she turned out to be. Not so much as to the damage she caused, but her track was a wild one! First she threatened Mississippi, then she turned around to go to Florida. Then, about a week later came crashing into Mississippi on Labor Day. For us, there wasn't much to her. There was some wind, but nothing too bad. My wife and I lived in a mobile home behind my parents' house during Elena. We didn't leave the trailer because the wind wasn't bad at all. We didnt' even get rain with her. I'm sure it was much much worse on the coast.
1992...Andrew! Not nearly the storm he was when he made landfall in Louisianna, the remnants of Andrew passed over our area during the night. The winds howled and the rain fell. We lost power during the night. My wife and I had bought my uncle's house that was next door to my mom. Our front porch literally bounced during the peek winds of Andrew. A huge oak tree on the right side of our house near the woods' edge was uprooted. I can only imagine how horrifying Andrew must have been to those who lived in Homestead!
Lastly, Hurricane Georges in 1998. I watched him from the time he was born till he made landfall on our coastline. I had that erie feeling that Georges was planning to visit Mississippi. I kept watching the water vapor loops, radars, and satellites. I predicted days before that he'd hit Mississippi. Unfortunately, I was right. The wind began to pick up late in the evening on the day before Georges made landfall. By midnight it was whisteling thru the holes under the storm doors. By daylight the trees were bending in the winds. IT was during the height of the storm early in the morning that my neighbors' cows decided to get out! We chased them back into the pen and got soaked. Georges wasn't too bad here with the exception of what he did to my mom's oak tree. Located just to the northwest of her carport, Georges uprooted the old oak that had so bravely withstood Camille, Frederick, Elena, and Andrew's remnants. Just missing her house and pickup, the tree landed across her driveway and managed to knock down the trim from the front of her carport. To this day, there is a stump and part of the tree trunk in my mom's yard as a reminder of Georges. Oddly enough, we never lost electric power during Georges.

[deb_in_nc]

That certainly gives me a little better understanding. Living as close to the coast as I do (maybe 1/2 mile), it just makes me wonder. I've never been
through one before. I guess unless you've been through it before, the mind has trouble comprehending the resulting damage from a powerful storm. I just can't imagine, especially with one as young as Tim was during Camille. My sister-in-law lives in Charlotte. We went to visit a few years afterwards. Even seeing those HUGE old oak trees, root system
bigger than my house,uprooted and lying on their sides. I still can't imagine the power it took to blow them over like that.

Colin: I'm sure your story would be anything but boring considering the widespread, massive flooding that went on in NC. Were you in PA then?
Tell us your story, too.

SF : I've been to your site a few times and re-read your story. The hummer part gave me chills. I too believe it knew what was coming. The fact that it flew off to the SW shows that it knew which way to go to get away.

Tim : It sounds like you've had a life of wild, wicked weather. Maybe God will let MS have a little peace after all they've been through.

Cyc : I can't imagine living in PR and spending the whole season glued to any communication you can find to see if you're in the path of some killer
storm.

I really appreciate the input guys.

God Bless you all in the coming season.

Debbie

[timNms]

My advice to you if ever a cane threatens your area- heed the warnings from your local authorities. If they say "get out", then by all means, do it.
A former pastor of mine lives about 2 miles north of Gulfport, MS. They rode out Georges. He and his wife said they would never do that again. He said that was one of the scariest things he'd ever been through in his life.

Mississippi has had it's share of canes over the years. Hopefully there won't be another Camille.

[timNms]

Forgot to mention this little bit of info. Keep in mind we're about 100 miles inland. The day after Camille passed over, we had seagulls in the pond across the road from our house! Weird site, it was!

[galvbay]

Mr. Bourdin (Camille survivor & historian) told us how eerie it was for several days after the storm because there were no birds or animal sounds at all. He said the absolute silence was really strange.

[Southernmost Weather]

I was here for Georges in 1998. The "dirty" part of the storm affected the lower Keys more than Key West. But we had our share of problems. I lost all my trees, my anenometer snapped, and the rain collector was damaged. We were without power for at least two weeks. We had very limited water service. And, yes, it was erie to not hear any birds in the aftermath. However, we did see a new type of bird that came in with the storm. Cuban finches that were very colorful. I live about a block and a half from the ocean. Flooding here was numerous and the water stood for a long time because of faulty storm drains. I saw portions of a pier that was on the Atlantic relocated down our main street. I saw boats in the middle of town that had been anchored in the harbor. It was not a pleasant experience and one that I will not forget, but as far as leaving when the next one hits--not a chance.