Hurricane Hazel - 15 Oct 1954
I was not even thought of when Hurricane Hazel hit North Carolina. My parents were young (Dad 15 and Mom 12)when Hazel came through Edgecombe County, N.C. My parents Hurricane for the record books was Hurricane Hazel in 1957. Several members of the family were working in the tobacco barns, putting up tobacco. It blew off roofs and caused a lot of wind damage. It nearly destroyed the southern beaches of NC. Anytime a Hurricane was mentioned, that was the one.
Newspaper Article from Rocky Mount - Way Back When (Facebook)
The Telegram published a morning edition on Saturday, October 16, 1954, with pictures and reports of Hazel's destruction:
Dwellings in Rocky Mount’s residential areas suffered heavily by the blows but the greatest destruction swept through Tobacco Town and the main business section. Losses at tobacco warehouses alone will run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Plate glass windows and roofs on downtown stores crumbled under the blows. One side of the A & P store on Marigold Street peeled off, and plate glass windows shattered at Bulluck’s Furniture Store on Church Street; Rocky Mount Furniture and Whaley Furniture companies on Main Street; Daniels, Merit Shoe Co., Kress, Mayfair Shop and the Ricks coffee shop, all on Main. Plate glass windows also were blown out by Hazel at the following automobile dealerships: Ray Bandy’s, Griffin-Salisbury, A. C. Motors, and Thomas-Farris Motors.
Among the early victims of the damage was the large sign that hung in front of Fox’s Jewelry, and it was soon joined by numerous plate glass windows along Main Street. Practically every television aerial mounted on the buildings on Main Street, the canvas advertising screen on the building next to the Peoples Bank, a rail crossing gate arm at Nash Street and several globes from street lamps, also fell before the onslaught of the hurricane.
The entire roof of the building formerly occupied by Brewer Paint and Wallpaper Company on Howard Street was lifted and blown away; the long metal awning in front of the Evening Telegram building was twisted off; metal roofing on literally dozens of other establishments were peeled away. Streets through town were paved in green leaves, and in many places were rendered impassable by falling trees, limbs and by electric and telephone lines.
All city schools in Rocky Mount closed at 10:15 a. m. Friday at the suggestion of Civil Defense and Red Cross officials. Edgecombe County
Schools Superintendent E. D. Johnson ordered all schools in the county closed at 10:00 a. m. and warned that all students should be at their homes and all buses off the roads by noon. Nash Superintendent L. S. Inscoe advised his principals over the county at 11:00 a. m. Friday to get their students home if they could possibly do so before the force of the storm struck. He advised them to keep at the schools students who could not make it home before the winds hit.
Power lines were down over most of the city until about 10 p. m., and still some sections of the city remained blacked out during the night. Joe Flythe, city utilities director, said there were no damages at the power plant except that one door blew out. At 1:44 p. m. power plant employees pulled the city’s main switch as a safety measure. According to Flythe, "We tried to keep the current on as long as possible but it got so bad in many places we finally cut it all out…from a safety point of view." The Carolina Power & Light Company’s lights were still out way into the night. From sunset until 9 p. m., police patrolled with light only from flashlights and the rising moon.
As soon as the storm had passed, John Pierce, manager of Woolworth’s store, did a rush business selling candles. Although the store was closed, Pierce kept one of his doors open and dealt change from a cigar box. When night fell he was still at his post doing business by the light of one of his larger candles. Another business that flourished just after the storm’s exit was the gasoline trade. Most of the stations were closed since they could not pump fuel without electric power, but two stations, one at each end of town on Church Street, were dealing out gas through pumps on tank trucks.
Dwellings in Rocky Mount’s residential areas suffered heavily by the blows but the greatest destruction swept through Tobacco Town and the main business section. Losses at tobacco warehouses alone will run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Plate glass windows and roofs on downtown stores crumbled under the blows. One side of the A & P store on Marigold Street peeled off, and plate glass windows shattered at Bulluck’s Furniture Store on Church Street; Rocky Mount Furniture and Whaley Furniture companies on Main Street; Daniels, Merit Shoe Co., Kress, Mayfair Shop and the Ricks coffee shop, all on Main. Plate glass windows also were blown out by Hazel at the following automobile dealerships: Ray Bandy’s, Griffin-Salisbury, A. C. Motors, and Thomas-Farris Motors.
Among the early victims of the damage was the large sign that hung in front of Fox’s Jewelry, and it was soon joined by numerous plate glass windows along Main Street. Practically every television aerial mounted on the buildings on Main Street, the canvas advertising screen on the building next to the Peoples Bank, a rail crossing gate arm at Nash Street and several globes from street lamps, also fell before the onslaught of the hurricane.
The entire roof of the building formerly occupied by Brewer Paint and Wallpaper Company on Howard Street was lifted and blown away; the long metal awning in front of the Evening Telegram building was twisted off; metal roofing on literally dozens of other establishments were peeled away. Streets through town were paved in green leaves, and in many places were rendered impassable by falling trees, limbs and by electric and telephone lines.
All city schools in Rocky Mount closed at 10:15 a. m. Friday at the suggestion of Civil Defense and Red Cross officials. Edgecombe County
Schools Superintendent E. D. Johnson ordered all schools in the county closed at 10:00 a. m. and warned that all students should be at their homes and all buses off the roads by noon. Nash Superintendent L. S. Inscoe advised his principals over the county at 11:00 a. m. Friday to get their students home if they could possibly do so before the force of the storm struck. He advised them to keep at the schools students who could not make it home before the winds hit.
Power lines were down over most of the city until about 10 p. m., and still some sections of the city remained blacked out during the night. Joe Flythe, city utilities director, said there were no damages at the power plant except that one door blew out. At 1:44 p. m. power plant employees pulled the city’s main switch as a safety measure. According to Flythe, "We tried to keep the current on as long as possible but it got so bad in many places we finally cut it all out…from a safety point of view." The Carolina Power & Light Company’s lights were still out way into the night. From sunset until 9 p. m., police patrolled with light only from flashlights and the rising moon.
As soon as the storm had passed, John Pierce, manager of Woolworth’s store, did a rush business selling candles. Although the store was closed, Pierce kept one of his doors open and dealt change from a cigar box. When night fell he was still at his post doing business by the light of one of his larger candles. Another business that flourished just after the storm’s exit was the gasoline trade. Most of the stations were closed since they could not pump fuel without electric power, but two stations, one at each end of town on Church Street, were dealing out gas through pumps on tank trucks.
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Wikipedia
This article is about the Atlantic hurricane of 1954. For other storms with the same name, see Tropical Storm Hazel (disambiguation). For the Canadian politician nicknamed "Hurricane Hazel", see Hazel McCallion.
Hurricane Hazel Category 4 major hurricane
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 400 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina, as a Category 4 hurricane. After causing 95 fatalities in the US, Hazel struck Canada as an extratropical storm, raising the death toll by 81 people, mostly in Toronto. As a result of the high death toll and the damage caused by Hazel, its name was retired from use for North Atlantic hurricanes.
In Haiti, Hazel destroyed 40% of the coffee trees and 50% of the cacao crop, affecting the economy for several years to come. The hurricane made landfall near Calabash, North Carolina, and destroyed most waterfront dwellings near its point of impact. From North Carolina, it traveled north along the Atlantic coast. Hazel affected Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York; it brought gusts near 160 km/h (100 mph) and caused $281 million (1954 USD) in damage. When it was over Pennsylvania, Hazel consolidated with a cold front, and turned northwest towards Canada. When it hit Ontario as an extratropical storm, rivers and streams in and around Toronto overflowed their banks, which caused severe flooding. As a result, many residential areas located in the local floodplains, such as the Raymore Drive area, were subsequently converted to parkland. In Canada alone, over C$135 million (2016: $1.2 billion) of damage was incurred.
The effects of Hazel were particularly unprecedented in Toronto, due to a combination of heavy rainfall during the preceding weeks, a lack of experience in dealing with tropical storms and the storm's unexpected retention of power. Hazel had traveled 1,100 km (680 mi) over land, but while approaching Canada, it had merged with an existing powerful cold front. The storm stalled over the Greater Toronto Area, and although it was now extratropical, it remained as powerful as a category 1 hurricane. To help with the cleanup, 800 members of the military were summoned, and a Hurricane Relief Fund was established that distributed $5.1 million (2009: $41.7 million) in aid.
At the Raleigh-Durham Airport in North Carolina, gusts of 90 mph (140 km/h) were recorded; in surrounding cities, including Kinston, Goldsboro, and Faison, wind gusts were estimated to have reached 120 mph (190 km/h). With such high winds state-wide, heavy damage was caused to forests, and to property as a result of falling trees. However, since the Carolinas, like the rest of the Southeastern United States, were suffering from a severe drought, the heavy rainfall brought by Hazel was welcome. In North Carolina, the most rain was received in the interior of the state: Robbins received 286 mm (11.3 in) of rain, and Carthage received 247 mm (9.7 in).
Nineteen people were killed in North Carolina, with several hundred more injured; 15,000 homes were destroyed and another 39,000 were damaged. The number of people left homeless by the storm was "uncounted thousands". Damages in the Carolinas amounted to $163 million, with $61 million incurred by beachfront property. Total damage in the United States ranged from $281 million to $308 million.
While Hazel caused the most damage in the Carolinas, the storm did not lose all of its intensity. Going north, Hazel turned extratropical by midday when it merged with a cold front; however, it retained hurricane-strength winds and it was continuing to drop heavy rainfall
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