DENNIS - Storm of ‘99 September 1, 1999 The Beaufort News
On Hurricane Alley
An editorial in The News-Times Sept. 15, 1964, entitled “On hurricane alley,” related the following: Dora passed us by, but her sisters are close behind. By Thursday afternoon after barometers here held steady at 30 or above, most of us got off the uneasy seat. Then Dora showed up in the form of a tropical storm Sunday. It was not unusual for a hurricane to hit land, do a complete reversal in route, and move out into the ocean again. Donna did just that. She went ashore in Florida, raged inland, but steadily worked her way northward. When she hit Florida most people assumed, as we did in Dora, that we were lucky again. Then Donna slammed into us Sunday night, Sept. 11, 1960. She made Hazel of 1954 look like a mullet blow. The devastation was so terrific because we had let down our guard. Donna was the storm which cut the causeway in two, washed out the newlyballasted B&M Railroad bed, shattered all the plate glass along the Coral Bay Club’s front and tore the Dunes Club to shreds. And all that was just a fraction of the destruction. Ester threatened in the following year, and Ella did likewise in 1962, but Carteret was spared. We were ready for Ginny in October 1963, but our preparedness scared her off, too. Preparation for storms will lessen damage and save lives. The big problem that occurs when we have been missed by a storm is that we may begin to feel it’s “silly” to get ready for riding out a blow.
People who pooh-pooh preparations, who laugh at those who took boats to sheltered harbors or boarded up windows, are only showing their ignorance. They’re like the grasshopper in Aesop’s fable who laughed at the ant getting ready for the hardship of winter.